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Clutch-shooting Robert Horry surpassed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar by appearing in his 238th playoff game, setting a new NBA record.

Anne Stein

Forward, San Antonio Spurs

Age: 37

This week, the clutch-shooting Horry surpassed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar by appearing in his 238th playoff game (Game 5 vs. the Hornets Tuesday night), setting a new NBA record. Now in his 16^th season, the 6’10”, 240-pound married father of two has been to the playoffs every single year, and with seven championship rings (two each with the Houston Rockets and San Antonio Spurs and three with the Lakers), has the most rings of any active NBA player.

What’s been the favorite moment of your career? That’s pretty hard because I have so many. I’d have to go with my last great moment, when we played Detroit in the finals and I scored 21 points, hit those threes, and got that nice dunk. Right now that little time period is my favorite moment so far. (Note: That would be Game 5 at Detroit, June 19, 2005, when Horry scored 21 points in the second half, including a 25-foot three-pointer with 5.8 seconds left that gave the Spurs a 96–95 overtime win and a 3-2 series lead.)

What’s been the toughest moment of your career? The toughest moment is seeing that your career is coming to an end. In your mind you still think you can do things but when you tell your body to do them, it doesn’t. You’re not as fast as you used to be, you don’t jump as high. That’s the toughest moment -- knowing that such a great time is coming to an end. You see the decline in your speed and your ability to bounce back after back-to-back games. Like they say, you see the light at the end of the tunnel.

If you weren’t playing basketball, what would you be doing instead? Growing up, I always wanted to be a math teacher. My mom’s a teacher, my aunt’s a teacher, I’ve got a whole family full of teachers so that’s what I wanted to fall into. Actually I used to tutor people in high school so I thought that was the path I’d be going down. I think I’d teach fourth through eighth grade. I don’t think I could deal with high school.

Who’s an athlete in another sport you admire? I’m a big baseball fan, so Jackie Robinson, Frank Robinson, especially what Jackie had to go through. He was such a great athlete, not being able to showcase his talent, going through the hard times, the racial stuff. God rest his soul, I think he and Frank went though so many hardships to advance all African-American athletes.

What’s your favorite book? Everything by Walter Mosley. I’m a big fan of his.

Do you like your nickname, Big Shot Bob? I don’t really care about it. You could be called something worse. As far as nicknames, it’s not a bad nickname, but I prefer to be plain old Robert. If anyone asks for Bob I say ‘Bob is my dad.’ It’s a good nickname and not derogatory so I’ll take it.

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