On May 15, 2000, the smoke had yet to clear at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis when the lights at Houston's Toyota Center quietly came on for another Game 5.
While the eyes of the United States focused on the life-or-death clash between the Chicago Bulls and the Pacers, the Western Conference's Houston Rockets and Portland Trail Blazers had also reached a crossroads in their series—tied 2-2 after four games, with whoever won this Game 5 seizing the initiative in the race to the Western Conference Finals.
Before the game, nearly everyone believed the Houston Rockets' Big Three would crush the Trail Blazers with ease.
Scottie Pippen's all-around game, Charles Barkley's destructive low-post scoring, and Hakeem Olajuwon's Dreamy Footsteps made this lineup one of the league's most formidable on paper.
But no one had expected the young Trail Blazers to drag the Rockets into such a grueling battle with their speed and stamina.
The Trail Blazers were a pack of tireless young men—Rasheed Wallace's toughness, Damon Stoudamire's agility, Bonzi Wells's explosiveness. They lacked legendary résumés, but they had energy to burn, and their only tactic was simple: run, and wear down those aging veterans with heavy legs.
The Rockets' old guard truly had grown old.
Barkley's knees had long since buckled under the strain. Every time he established position in the post, searing pain came with it, and on the way back on defense, he could only watch helplessly as Trail Blazers guards streaked past half court like lightning.
Olajuwon's Dreamy Footsteps had slowed by half a beat as well. Faced with Rasheed Wallace's high-arcing threes and constant cuts to the basket, the once-dominant interior king looked increasingly outmatched.
Though Pippen remained versatile as ever, his declining stamina made it impossible for him to sustain high-intensity defense for all 48 minutes.