Mario Elie

On May 20, 1995, the Houston Rockets were one win away from doing the impossible. They had dropped three of the first four games of their Western Conference Semifinal against the Phoenix Suns, and no NBA team had climbed out of a 3-1 hole in 13 years — not since the '82 Sixers against Boston. Now, in Game 7 at America West Arena, with the series and the season on the line, Mario Elie caught the ball in the corner and buried a three-pointer so deep and so clean that he had time to turn toward the Phoenix bench and blow a kiss before the celebration started. The shot fell with 7.1 seconds left and lifted the visiting Rockets to a 115-114 win, completing the comeback and sending Houston to the Western Conference Finals. The moment immediately became one of the most memorable acts of playoff punctuation in NBA history, and it has been known as the "Kiss of Death" ever since. Elie was the consummate role player on that Houston squad, a sharpshooter with the constitution of someone twice his draft pedigree, capable of cashing the biggest shot of a game and then defending the best perimeter player on the other team. The Rockets went on to beat San Antonio in six games in the Western Conference Finals and sweep Orlando in the Finals to capture their second consecutive championship — and Elie's Kiss of Death was the shot that put them on the runway.

Top Shot Debut

Championship Year