Remember when anybody who was anybody had a fast-talking, lookalike puppet?

The ’90s was an insanely awesome decade for many reasons, least of which was because the NBA was actually fun to watch. Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Steve Kerr, Dennis Rodman, Toni Kukoč and the Chicago Bulls were led by “The Zen Master” Phil Jackson. The Seattle Supersonics was a real team with Gary “The Glove” Payton, Shawn Kemp and one of the greatest sports names ever: Detlef Schrempf. And let’s not forget about Hakeem Olajuwon firing up the Houston Rockets.

Even so, the real magic of the NBA in the ’90s went down in Orlando. Anfernee “Penny” Hardaway is one of the league’s all-time greats, including his nickname. Along with his immense talent was his prowess for marketing and nobody talked a big game like Penny’s small friend who sounded precisely like comedian Chris Rock:

“Lil’ Penny.”

This blissful commercial is why “Throwback Thursday” is such a fantastic phenomenon.

It’s just a nice coincidence that Penny happened to throw the ball through the back of the hoop.