Robert Reid obit

Rockets Ex Robert Reid Dies at 68 - Tracker

 

He was not on the list.

FEB 20 ROBERT REID PASSES AWAY The Houston Rockets are mourning the loss of former forward Robert Reid. He was 68 years old when he passed away on Monday after a battle with cancer.

Reid was drafted in the second round by the Rockets in the 1977 NBA Draft, playing with the team for 10 seasons. He played a key role for the Rockets in their NBA Finals runs in 1980 and 1986.

An Atlanta-born 6'8" forward from St. Mary's University, Texas, Robert "Bobby Joe" Reid played thirteen seasons (1977–1982; 1983–1991) in the National Basketball Association as a member of the Houston Rockets, Charlotte Hornets, Portland Trail Blazers, and Philadelphia 76ers. He had his best overall season in 1980-81, when he was the second leading scorer on the Rockets team that reached the NBA Finals, where he led all scorers in Game 1 with 27 points, before losing to the Boston Celtics. The following year, after the Rockets traded reigning MVP Moses Malone to the Philadelphia 76ers, Reid unexpectedly retired from basketball and moved to Miami, Florida to focus on his Pentecostal faith. After a year away from the NBA, he returned to Houston after they drafted Ralph Sampson with the first overall pick in the 1983 NBA draft. One of Reid's most notable moments in the NBA was his three-point shot in Game 5 of the 1986 Western Conference Finals against the Los Angeles Lakers that tied the game with just seconds left, helping rally the Rockets into defeating the Lakers and reaching the 1986 NBA Finals. When he concluded his NBA career in 1991, Reid had tallied 10,448 career points, 4,168 career rebounds, and 2,500 career assists.

Reid, who grew up in San Antonio, was the third-leading scorer behind Moses Malone and Calvin Murphy on the 1981 team that made it to the NBA Finals. In that series, Reid was tasked with guarding Larry Bird, who posted back-to-back 8-point outings in Games 3 and 4 of the Finals, which the Celtics won in six games. Reid’s defensive prowess was enough to earn a mention in Bird’s 1989 book “Drive: The Story of My Life,” even if it was a bit of a backhanded compliment.

“I scored eight points in both games down there. All of a sudden, Robert Reid is this great defensive force,” Bird wrote. “Robert is a good defensive player, but he’s no Michael Cooper. I couldn’t understand what all the fuss was about. I couldn’t hit a shot, but otherwise, I thought I was playing good basketball.”

After the Rockets traded Malone in 1982, Reid retired at 27 years old to focus on his religion. He returned the following season and played five more seasons with the Rockets, including averaging 12 points for the 1986 team that reached the Finals and again lost to Bird and the Celtics. Reid hit one of the biggest shots of that playoff run, knocking down a game-tying 3-pointer with 15 seconds left in Game 5 of the Western Conference finals against the Lakers. That set up Ralph Sampson to win the game and the series with his buzzer beater on Houston’s next possession.

The Rockets traded Reid, who longtime Rockets' radio announcer Gene Peterson lovingly called “Bobby Joe”, to the expansion Charlotte Hornets after the 1988 season. He spent two seasons in Charlotte where he was the team’s third-leading scorer behind Kelly Tripucka and Rex Chapman in the franchise’s inaugural year. He also briefly played for the Blazers and 76ers before retiring in 1991 at the age of 35.

In recent years, Reid hosted basketball clinics for young athletes in several countries, such as India.

Career history

As player:

1977–1982,

1983–1988            Houston Rockets

1988–1989            Charlotte Hornets

1989            Portland Trail Blazers

1989–1990            Charlotte Hornets

1990–1991            Tulsa Fast Breakers

1991            Philadelphia 76ers

1991–1992            Tri-City Chinook

 

As coach:

1992–1993            Yakima Sun Kings

2003    Texas Rim Rockers

2004            Lakeland Blue Ducks

2004–2005            Debreceni Vadkakasok