Exciting Endings to Consecutive Playoff Games in Houston (MLB and NBA)
During the 2019 NBA Finals, the Golden State Warriors tied a record for most home games lost during the Finals when they lost three home games.
Later that year, the Houston Astros set the record for most home games lost during the World Series when they lost four home games to the
Washington Nationals. They went 0-4 at home despite having a special
home-field advantage.
What many baseball fans forget is that the Astros won their two home games prior to the 2019 World Series in exciting fashion. The Astros won Games
2 and 6 of the ALCS against the New York Yankees with walk-off home runs. (Games 3, 4, and 5 were held in New York.)
Carlos Correa hit the first one and
Jose Altuvè hit the second one. That's the only time in MLB postseason history that
two consecutive games in the same city (Houston) ended with a home run! Altuvè's home run sent the Astros to the World Series.
The basketball equivalent of a walk-off hit is a game-winning buzzer-beating shot. Houston is also the only city where two consecutive games ended with game-winning buzzer-beaters. At the end of Game 4 of
the 1997 Western Conference Finals between the Houston Rockets and the Utah Jazz, Eddie Johnson hit this
tie-breaking, three-pointer at the buzzer to win the game. The next game in Houston was Game 6 (Game 5 was held in Utah). Like Johnson, Utah Jazz guard John
Stockton hit a tie-breaking, three-pointer at the buzzer.
The clutch shot by Stockton sent the Jazz to the 1997 NBA Finals. Game 1 of that series ended with this Michael Jordan buzzer-beater in Chicago. So, three consecutive Jazz road playoff games ended with buzzer-beaters! That's the only time that's happened in NBA history!
(Keep in mind that approximately 1% (821/60000+) of games in NBA history have ended with game-winning buzzer-beaters.) The
three game-winning buzzer-beaters were the only three game-winning buzzer-beaters of the 1997 NBA playoffs (72 total games).
Unlike in baseball, the road team in a basketball game can have the "walk-off" play. If Stockton played for the New York Yankees, he couldn't have hit a walk-off home run in Houston.