HATFIELD SPORTS SOUNDS OFF!

BY MATTHEW HATFIELD --- Tuesday, June 21^st, 2005

Horry, on the verge of winning a sixth NBA title, deserves MVP honors

He’s most likely not going to get the award. Some can argue that, despite his heroics of Game 5, he doesn’t deserve the award. Fact of the matter is, though that Robert Horry saved the San Antonio Spurs’ season. Without him it would be Detroit leading the series 3-2 with a chance to close it out tonight or perhaps in a Game 7 (if necessary) on Thursday.

We all know who the Spurs’ best player is on most given nights - one Tim Duncan, a two-time regular season and Finals Most Valuable Player. I’ve always thought highly of Duncan and looked at him as someone that can be the face of this league for years. In Sunday night’s pregame, ABC’s Michelle Tafoya had a sit-down with the former Wake Forest grad. As a reply to one of the questions Tafoya asked him, Duncan said, “I don’t know. I do it ‘cuz I do it.” Huh? Would’ve expected that kind of response from a menace or player that came right into the game straight out of High School. But not Duncan, who learned under the tutelage of David Robinson, a Hall-of-Famer and fine, class act for his entire career.

Okay, I’ll give him a pass for the non-informative, whatsoever remark. What we all can’t do is give him a pass for the way he’s performed in Games 3, 4 and 5 in the closing minutes. He and fellow budding star Manu Ginobili, a player that’s clearly on the cusp of reaching stardom, are the top two candidates for Finals MVP. Since the first two games in San Antonio, neither has had a standout-ish, statement performance. Horry has.

Following the 96-95 overtime win on Sunday night, people have been asking the question does Horry warrant Hall-of-Fame consideration for all of his success coming in the postseason rather than the regular season? If there was a Hall-of-Fame for role players, he’d be the first one inducted. For one night, Horry went from role player to option numero uno. He scored all 21 of the team’s final 35 points on his own and made countless hustle plays in the process. Duncan, meanwhile, as great as he can be at times, had one of the worst Finals moments at the free-throw line ever. Worse than Karl Malone’s first ever Finals game against Chicago and maybe even worse than Shaq’s well documented struggles from that spot.

Timmy was able to make up for it somewhat in other areas. His line was pretty solid: 26 points, 19 rebounds and 11-24 shooting. Defensively, he showed cracks at times, lost control of the ball on two crucial possessions, failed to convert a tip-in at the end of regulation, and of course was miserable shooting free-throws. In addition to already having won five Championships with two different teams and perhaps now a sixth ring, Horry has two records. Horry recently passed Michael Jordan for the most three-point shots made in NBA Finals history and could retire having played in more playoff games than anyone else.

After being traded from Houston to Phoenix, Horry got a bad rap. Although his minutes were limited, it didn’t keep him from making big shots in L.A. and now in the lon- estar state. Instead of asking all the time what’s this guy done, lets ask this question: what’s Big Shot Rob NOT done?