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Rakets, Mario Elie celebrate the 30th anniversary of “Kuss des Death”

Rakets, Mario Elie celebrate the 30th anniversary of “Kuss des Death”

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It was exactly 30 years ago when Mario Elie Houston exported his latest NBA championship. With his iconic “kiss of death” in Phoenix, it was the last elimination game with which these rockets were exposed.

This Tuesday is best known as the “kiss of death” and marks the age of 30 of the most famous shot in the franchise history of Houston Rockets, with the friendly approval of the three-time NBA champion Mario Elie. Elie Highlights and interviews shared the occasion via his X account.

It was May 20, 1995 when Elie scored a corner 3 pointer with less than 10 seconds in game 7 in Phoenix. The legendary shot broke a tie and raised the rockets to victory in the decisive game of the Western Conference semi-final, which they once had with a 3-1 lead.

Under the direction of Charles Barkley and Kevin Johnson, the Suns (59-23) were much better than Houston (47-35) in the regular 1994-95 season. However, “Clutch City” was another animal in the playoffs. And just a few weeks later, these rockets secured their second NBA championship in a row. (Elie got his third title with San Antonio in 1999.)

On the anniversary of Tuesday via her social media outlet, the Rockets released a video of Elie's heroic recording -which proved to be the last elimination game, with which Houston was faced with his title from 1995.

The Phoenix shot may be best for what happened immediately afterwards, and Elie blows a kiss in the direction of the home bank. The Suns never had a realistic shot to bind the game to Elie's make, and head coach Rudy Tomjanovich decided to double the suns with a 3-point lead.

In a story for the 20th anniversary, Elie The Houston Chronicle said that the kiss was gestured in the backup Suns Center Joe Kleine. Elie said:

He started in game 5. It started as fun, but I got the last kiss. It was only emotions, friendly competition and we went mutually for the second time in a row.

It was a somewhat risky game by Elie on several levels. Ideally, Tomjanovich wanted to use the gunshot at the last shot of the game, so that the worst-case scenario was overtime. Because Elie shot early on, a Miss would probably have allowed a shot to win in the regulation.

These rockets also had two future Hall of Famers on the square in Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler. On paper, one of these two seems to be the preferred option in a scenario in late game. But Elie was open after a cross-court pass from Robert Horry and he shot without hesitation.

“Robert threw a high passport and I had to jump to get it,” said Elie. “But I had time to collect myself and take a great view of the basket.”

Olajuwon and Drexler each had 29 points in victory, which was only the fifth time in NBA history that a road team had won a game 7. But it was the last shot of an 8-point excursion by an experienced role player-am best for his defense and hardness-the game is best remembered.

“My children don't believe that the old man could play,” said Elie in 2015 to The Houston Chronicle. “I can show you video that I was pretty good.”

Unfortunately, the 30th anniversary of Elie's heroic shot also reflects the last season in which the Rockets won the NBA championship. But Houston (52-30) just finished a season 2024-25 with the fourth best record of the league and a relatively young and improved squad. There is hope that the drought could end in the not too distant future.

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