In his sixteen-year career, he played a total of 1,107 games, including 481 starts and 626 off-the-bench games. Averaging 7 points, 4.8 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 1 steal in 24.4 minutes per game, he averaged double figures in three seasons, but only 12 points per game. When these data are presented in front of us, we inevitably think of the word "supporting roles".
In fact, supporting roles are not an awkward word. Players in the league are distributed like the shuttles of a loom, with the top stars occupying one end, the difficult to play the ball occupying one end, and the huge part in the middle is those supporting roles. It's hard for them to get a top salary contract, and they don't enjoy the spotlight like a home star, but their role in the team can't be ignored. Just as the so-called red must also be matched with green leaves, the strength of a team must not only have the superstar to determine the ceiling, but also have supporting roles to become the backbone.
Among the many supporting roles, there are also some players who have a very good career. Like the set of data at the beginning of the article, it looks unremarkable but does not mean that the player is unknown. On the contrary, the player who played this set of statistics has a very enviable career, his career has never missed the playoffs, and he has seven championship rings in his hand, with a 100% winning rate, and he is today's protagonist: Robert Horry.
Horry was selected with the 11th pick in the first round in 1992, and he was still highly regarded in his rookie season, starting all 79 games and averaging 10.1 points, 5 rebounds, 2.4 assists, 1 steal and 1.1 blocks per game. However, in the second season, the team wanted to improve its overall strength, and in February 1994, it was traded with Matt Bullard to the Detroit Pistons in exchange for Sean Elliott, who became an All-Star in the 92-93 season, but the deal eventually became a oolong deal.
After the trade was completed, Horry was on the Pistons' roster and ready to play in the locker room, but Elliott did not pass the official medical examination due to kidney problems, and the trade was eventually aborted, and Horry had to return to the original team. In fact, the abort of the trade was quite a blow to the players, especially the impact on the mentality of the players, but for Horry, the oolong deal somehow "saved" his career.
Returning to the team, Horry still held the team's starting position, and he gradually developed his three-point ability. Entering the playoffs, Horry's form is also quite stable. In 23 playoff games that season, Horry averaged 11.7 points, 6.1 rebounds, 3.6 rebounds and 1.5 steals per game, and averaged 1.5 three-pointers per game with a 38.2% shooting rate, and his presence eased the pressure on Hakim Olajuwon, who also won the 93-94 championship.
In the following 94-95 season, the team faced player injuries, trades and other issues, and the role of the third-year Horry in the team was more important. That season, Horry averaged 10.2 points, 5.1 rebounds, 3.4 assists, 1.5 steals, 1.2 blocks, 37.9 percent three-point shooting, and averaged 1.3 three-pointers per game. In the playoffs, Horry's performance was even better, he improved his stats to average 13.1 points, 7 rebounds, 3.5 assists, 1.5 steals and 1.2 blocks per game, and could average 2 three-pointers per game from 40% shooting, and the team eventually fought back from the sixth position in the West to the Finals and swept the Orlando Magic led by Shaquille O'Neal. Horry averaged 17.8 points, 10 rebounds, 3.8 rebounds, 3 steals, 2.3 blocks on the stage of the 1995 Finals, and averaged 2.8 three-pointers per game with a shooting rate of 37.9%, of which the average steals, blocks and hits were the team's first, the score ranked third, the rebound ranked second, he was a major contributor to the team's championship.
In fact, at that time, Horry's position in the team was a space shooter, and he played as a big forward with a height of 2.06 meters, but because the team had a top center like Olajuwon, Horry, who had a good three-point ability, became a space-type forward who opened up space for Olajuwon and reduced pressure. Therefore, Horry can also be regarded as the originator of the space forward. In addition, Horry's defensive level is also quite good, with a career average of 1 steal and 0.9 blocks per game are relatively good statistics.
The championship ring is the ultimate goal of every NBA player, but it is not easy to get a championship ring, there are many players who can not get a championship ring in their lifetime, Carl Malone, John Stockton, Charles Barkley and other players are "uncrowned kings", although this does not affect their greatness, but the lack of championships still makes these players leave a huge regret in their careers. Horry's career has been lucky, with seven championship rings in his hand, and he's also experienced two and three consecutive titles.
In 1993, Michael Jordan led the Chicago Bulls to complete their first triple crown, and in the same year, his father was assassinated, and some lonely Jordan chose to retire. After retiring, Olajuwon led the team to two consecutive championships, and Horry followed the team to the championship ring. In the summer of 1996, Horry was traded to the Phoenix Suns, but after playing only 32 games for the Suns, Horry had an argument with head coach Danny Angie, who threw a towel in Angie's face and the Suns traded him to the Los Angeles Lakers.
Because of the deal, Horry had three more championship rings on his hand. Shaquille O'Neal and Bryant Bryant led the Lakers to three consecutive championships in the 99-00, 00-01 and 01-02 seasons. The following 02-03 season, the Lakers fell on the way to the impact of four consecutive championships, Horry in the playoffs three-pointers totaled 38 shots 2, poor performance let the Lakers finally give up Horry. As a free agent, Horry chose to join the San Antonio Spurs, and during his five seasons with the Spurs, Horry won the 2005 and 2007 championships with the team, winning two championship rings again. At the end of the 07-08 season, Horry never returned to the field.
From entering the league in 1992 to exiting the league in 2008, Horry has played for four teams in 16 seasons of his career, followed the team to the finals seven times and won all championship rings, and Horry's career has never missed the playoffs, and has also broken through the first round, which is a goal that many players and even star-level players cannot reach. It can be said that Holly's career was extremely lucky, and in those years there was even a saying that "the one who gets Horry wins the world".
Except for most of his first four seasons as a starter, Horry spent most of his other games on the bench, and he never became a team star, not even a second-in-command. Therefore, there will be fans who question the color of Horry's championship ring, after all, he has followed the team to win the championship most of the time. However, although Horry is a lucky person, his championship ring never lies down to win, and he will always be present at key moments, because of his big heart performance in key moments, Horry also has the nickname of "Big Shot Rob".
In Game 3 of the 1995 Finals, 35.7 seconds before the finale, O'Neal drew the bag and passed to Horace Grant, who hit a mid-range shot to help the Magic chase the score to 100-101, and then Olajuwon gave the ball to Horry outside the three-point line with 5 seconds left in the offensive time, who opened his hand to hit a three-point shot to help the team rewrite the score to 104-100, and the team finally beat the Magic to get the match point. The young magic mentality has collapsed and has finally been swept away.
In game three of the 2001 Finals, O'Neal left the game with six fouls in the final quarter, the Philadelphia 76ers chased the score to 88-89, Brian Shaw passed the ball to Holly in the bottom corner, who hit a three-point shot 47.1 seconds before the final game to help the Lakers gain a four-point lead of 92-88, and finally the Lakers beat the 76ers 96-91 to take a 2-1 lead.
In the fourth game of the 2002 Western Conference Finals, the Sacramento Kings took a 2-1 lead in the first two games, and played a 40-20 offensive climax in the first quarter of the fourth game to control the game, and Holly scored 11 points on 3 of 4 three-pointers in the fourth quarter to help the Lakers gradually approach the score. In the 11.8 seconds before the final, Verratti Divac made two free throws to help the Kings take a two-point lead at 99-97. After the timeout, Bryant missed the throw and O'Neal missed the basket, but the ball came to Horry outside the three-point line, and he raised his hand to hit a three-point shot to directly kill the Kings, helping the Lakers equalize the series.
In game 5 of the 2005 Finals, the away Spurs suffered a sniper attack by the Pistons, and in the crucial fourth quarter, Holly saved the team, scoring 13 of the team's 25 points on 4-of-4 three-point range in the quarter. However, Horry's performance did not end. In overtime, he scored 5 points on 2-of-2 shooting and received a three-point pass from Manu Ginobili with 6 seconds left in overtime to help the Spurs rally 96-95, and finally the Spurs narrowly defeated the Pistons by 96-95 points to win the Finals battle of King's Hill, and Horry's left hand split Richard Hamilton in overtime became a classic.
Despite his low status on the team, Horry has saved the team in key moments in the playoffs on many occasions, most of them with three-pointers. So, lucky Horry didn't lie down to win the championship, and almost every championship ring had Horry's key three points.
He has never missed the first round of the playoffs in his career, and has played seven Times in the Finals with the team, so Horry's many playoff statistics are relatively high, such as he has played a total of 244 playoff games, ranking third in history, second only to Derek Fisher and Tim Duncan, and LeBron James, who has reached the Finals for eight consecutive years, has played five fewer playoff games than him; hit 261 three-pointers, ranking 14th in history; grabbed 1361 rebounds, ranking 24th in history; and delivered 575 assists. Ranked 46th in history, 12th in history with 276 steals, and 16th in history with 225 blocks. Horry has left too many footprints in NBA history, and he has left many evocative moments, his career is not great, but for players in supporting roles, it is already exciting enough!
Wen/Shuang Brother is not willful in watching the ball