Robert Horry recently said Charles Barkley ruined the Houston Rockets' 1990s dynasty. Horry could probably say a lot of things, and Shaquille O'Neal would have his back.
ESPN wrote a column on the connections of championship rings extending from NBA players who have been teammates of the Big Retired Aristotle, noting that the streak of championships of former Shaq teammates will reach 32 with whichever team wins this year's NBA Finals.
Robert Horry blames end of Houston Rockets' title run in 1990s on acquisition of Charles Barkley
But one of the teammates O'Neal said he'll remember most is Robert Horry, who was part of seven championship teams with three different franchises.
Horry won two with the Rockets before he was shipped to Phoenix in the trade that brought Barkley to Houston. After throwing a towel in then-Suns coach Danny Ainge's face, Horry was sent to the Lakers where he helped Los Angeles earn three more rings.
After the Shaq-Kobe Bryant divorce, Horry moved on to the San Antonio Spurs, winning his final two championships.
O'Neal, who has four championships - the fourth coming after he joined forces with Dwyane Wade in Miami for a title in 2006 - credits Horry for helping him get two of his four.
"Big Shot Bob saved my ass in two championships out of three with his shooting,'' Shaq told ESPN's Jackie MacMullin. "I think he deserves to be in the Hall of Fame. He doesn't have big numbers but he hit a lot of important shots, shots that if he doesn't make, a lot of guys can't claim, 'I have a ring.' Including me."
Horry never averaged more than 12.0 points per game in a season and never more than 7.4 points with the Lakers, with whom he had his longest tenure at seven years. He was a career 34.1 percent 3-point shooter. His best rebounding year was 7.5 per game - ironically the same year as his 7.4 points per game with L.A. in 1997-98.
That was two years before the Lakers grew into champions.
O'Neal is protective of Horry's reputation, according to ESPN, defending the lanky forward against those who say Horry simply was in the right places in the right times with the right teammates (with Hakeem Olajuwon and later Clyde Drexler in Houston; with Shaq and Kobe in L.A. and with Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili in San Antonio).
"I don't think it's luck when you do it consistently," Shaq retorts.
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