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• Drafted in 1992 by the Houston Rockets, Horry was traded to Detroit in 1994 for Sean Elliott - before Houston had won any NBA titles. Keep in mind this was when Detroit was rebuilding after its Bad Boys run, and the Pistons were a 28-win team.

But lo and behold, the trade was nullified because Elliott had a kidney ailment and failed the physical!


• Thus saved, Horry continued to play alongside a two-time NBA Most Valuable Player, Hakeem Olajuwon, leaving him open for easy 3-point shots. The result: a championship that season, and another in 1995.


• That summer, Horry's luck seemed to run out as he was traded to the Suns in the Charles Barkley deal.

With no stars around him, Horry's only "big shot" was at coach Danny Ainge, whom he hit in the face with a towel during a game in Boston.


• Bad karma, right? Not as it turns out. Horry was shipped to the Los Angeles Lakers. That was Shaquille O'Neal's first season in Los Angeles, and the Lakers had some kid named Kobe Bryant.


• Thus saved, Horry rode the coattails of O'Neal and Bryant to three more championship rings.


• In the its last title run, LA appeared to be beaten in a key game against Sacramento in the Western Conference finals when O'Neal and Bryant each missed shots in the final 11 seconds with the Lakers down by two.

But, as you know, the ball finds evil energy. Sacramento's Vlade Divac batted the ball away from the rim, thinking time would expire. Instead, the ball went to Horry, who hit a 3-pointer to beat the Kings as the buzzer went off.


• Alas, in 2003 it appeared that the Master of the Netherworld in New York had turned his back on Horry. He went 0-18 from 3-point range in a playoff series against the Spurs as the Lakers' string of three consecutive titles ended.


• But the blood contract evidently remained binding. Perhaps recognizing Horry's deal with darkness, the Spurs (with yet another dominant big man in the middle, Tim Duncan)signed Horry as a free agent.

With the Spurs, Horry won another ring in 2005.


• However, Horry tempted fate and karma once again, this time by drilling one of the NBA's good guys, Steve Nash, into a scorer's table in a 2007 playoff game that already was decided.

Horry was suspended for two games, but Nash teammates Boris Diaw and Amaré Stoudemire were suspended for pivotal Game 5 for leaving the bench area.


• Horry won a seventh ring while Nash's fingers remained as barren as Beelzebub Stern's heart.


• Proving that there is no justice with the Prosecutor, Horry made a key defensive play in Game 6 of the Suns-Spurs rematch a year later - stripping Nash of the ball.


• Thus alive to continue wreaking havoc, Horry set an evil back pick on New Orleans star David West in Game 6 of this year's Western Conference semifinals, leaning in just enough to damage West's tender back.


• Usually, karma demands balance.

Monday night, the Spurs face elimination in Game 7. But if Horry lines up for a pivotal 3-point shot, and you see Stern in the crowd with that creepy evil look on his face like Al Pacino had in The Devil's Advocate?

You'll know

azcentral.com