Jeff McDonald: Robert Horry says no to Mother's Day So, the folks for TNT were on hand at Spurs practice Saturday, in preparation for their coverage of Game 4 tomorrow. As part of the prep work, TNT producers were looking for Spurs players to record generic Mother's Day promos for use in the broadcast.
"I'm Joe Blow, wishing all the moms out there a Happy Mother's Day" -- that sort of thing.
The producers made the mistake of asking Robert Horry, who flatly declined. No, Horry has nothing against mothers (and, last we checked, he harbors no ill will toward apple pie and puppies, either).
Horry, it seems, is just really superstitious.
"The last time I did that for Mother's Day, we got our ass kicked," Horry said.
The way Horry remembers it, he wished all the moms out there a Happy Mother's Day one year, then watched his Houston Rockets get spanked by the Phoenix Suns.
It's almost certain that Horry's memory is playing a little bit of a trick on him. The Rockets twice faced the Suns on Mother's Day during Horry's tenure in Houston, and though Phoenix won both games, neither could be considered a blowout.
The Suns won 91-87 in Game 1 of the 1994 Western Conference semifinals, and 114-110 in Game 4 of the 1995 conference semis. And, in both cases, Houston went on to win not only that series, but an NBA championship.
Still, Horry isn't tempting fate this time around. He isn't publicly wishing anybody anything on Mother's Day.
"I'm superstitious," Horry said.
Rebuffed, TNT turned to Damon Stoudemire instead.
Horry, by the way, has enough on his mind. Should he play in Game 4, it would mark his 237th career playoff game, matching Kareem Abdul-Jabbar atop the NBA's all-time list.
Keep smiling
Big Shot Bob believes Superman needs to be more serious.
Robert Horry, who won three of his seven NBA championships with the Lakers, argued in a radio interview that Dwight Howard needs to ditch his headband and stop smiling after missing free throws.
"His time has come and gone, so don't try to tell me how to play," Howard said. "Just because I smile and have fun, that doesn't mean I don't take this game seriously. I don't want anybody to ever get that twisted.
"I came here to win championships and I came here to dominate, but I'm going to do it with a smile."