1995 NBA Finals

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The 1995 NBA Finals was the championship round of the 1994-95 NBA season. The series pitted the Orlando Magic against the Houston Rockets. The pre-series hype and build-up of the Finals was centered around the meeting of the two great centers Shaquille O'Neal of the Magic and Hakeem Olajuwon of the Rockets. Going into the series the matchup was compared to the Bill Russell-Wilt Chamberlain matchup of the 1960s.

Like his old friend Hakeem Olajuwon did the previous year, Clyde Drexler experienced the joy of winning an NBA championship at last. The Rockets became the first team in NBA history to win the championship as a sixth seed. In addition, they became the first team in NBA history to beat four 50-win teams in a single postseason en route to the championship. The Rockets would win a playoff-record 9 road games in the 1995 playoffs. In addition, the Rockets' sweep of the Magic was the first in Finals history where the winning team had to win Games 1 and 2 on the road.

The Orlando Magic (making their first ever NBA Finals appearance) began the 1995 NBA Finals at home, hosting the defending champion Houston Rockets. With the Magic up by three points late in the Game 1, Nick Anderson missed four consecutive free throws, and Kenny Smith hit a three pointer, tying the game and sending it to overtime as well as setting a new record with the most three-pointers in an NBA Finals game with 7. The more experienced Rockets went on to win in overtime and eventually swept the Magic, winning their second consecutive NBA Championship.

[edit] 1995 NBA Finals roster

[edit] 1995 Houston Rockets

Head Coach: Rudy Tomjanovich
Hakeem Olajuwon | Clyde Drexler | Kenny Smith | Robert Horry | Sam Cassell | Mario Elie | Carl Herrera | Vernon Maxwell | Chucky Brown | Pete Chilcutt | Tracy Murray | Tim Breaux | Zan Tabak | Charles Jones | Adrian Caldwell |

[edit] 1995 Orlando Magic

Head Coach: Brian Hill
Shaquille O'Neal | Anfernee Hardaway | Nick Anderson | Horace Grant | Dennis Scott | Donald Royal | Brian Shaw | Anthony Bowie | Jeff Turner | Geert Hammink | Anthony Avent | Darrell Armstrong | Brooks Thompson | Tree Rollins | Keith Tower |

[edit] Background

In a midseason trade with Portland, the Rockets obtained guard Clyde Drexler, who had played alongside Hakeem Olajuwon at the University of Houston. Houston struggled in the regular season, and they consequently entered the playoffs as a sixth seed in the Western Conference. They were not expected to defeat the 60-22 Utah Jazz in the first round, the 59-23 Phoenix Suns in the second round, then the 62-20 San Antonio Spurs (led by regular season Most Valuable Player David Robinson) in the Conference Finals. In fact, the Suns led the second-round series 2 games to 0 (just as they did in the same round the year before). However, Houston came back to win the last three games of the series, and then got past the Spurs to reach the Finals, where they were matched up with the Orlando Magic. With Shaquille O'Neal and Penny Hardaway, the Magic (with a 50-32 regular season record in the 1993-94 season) were expected to win the championship. In the 1994-95 season, the Magic's sixth season, after acquiring rebounder Horace Grant as a free agent from the Chicago Bulls, Orlando compiled a 57-25 record, which was the best in the East. On their way to the Finals, the Magic defeated the Boston Celtics, the Chicago Bulls, and the Indiana Pacers.

[edit] Series summary

Rockets win series 4-0

[edit] Olajuwon vs. O'Neal

Although both centers played well, Olajuwon is generally considered to have outplayed O'Neal. Olajuwon outscored O'Neal in every game of the series and became one of the few players in NBA history to score at least 30 points in every game of an NBA Finals series:^[1][2]

By winning his second straight NBA Finals MVP award, Hakeem Olajuwon became the sixth player to win the award on multiple occasions, joining Willis Reed, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird and Michael Jordan. Jordan and Olajuwon at the time were the only players to win the award consecutively. Later, O'Neal himself would go on to win the award in three consecutive seasons with the Lakers (2000-02).

[edit] Quotes of the Finals

• "Don't ever underestimate the heart of a champion!" - Houston Rockets head coach Rudy Tomjanovich

• "Drexler...with the tip by Olajuwon!"-NBC announcer Marv Albert after Hakeem Olajuwon tipped in a missed shot by Clyde Drexler to give the Rockets a victory in Game 1.

[edit] Team rosters

[edit] See also

• 1995 NBA Playoffs

[edit] References

v • d • e San Diego/Houston Rockets Houston, Texas The Franchise Franchise • All-Time roster • Seasons • Draft history • Head coaches • Current season Arenas San Diego Sports Arena • Hofheinz Pavilion • HemisFair Arena • The Summit/Compaq Center • Toyota Center Culture and Lore Red Rowdies • Clutch City • Clutch The Rockets Bear • Choke City • The Clock Incident Head Coaches McMahon • Hannum • Winter • Egan • Nissalke • Harris • Fitch • Chaney • Tomjanovich • Van Gundy • Adelman NBA Championships (2) 1994 • 1995 Western Conference Titles (4) 1981 • 1986 • 1994 • 1995 Divisional Titles (4) 1977(Central) • 1986(Midwest) • 1993(Midwest) • 1994(Midwest) Administration Owner: Leslie Alexander • General Manager: Daryl Morey • Head Coach: Rick Adelman Notable Figures Rick Adelman • Leslie Alexander • Rafer Alston • Charles Barkley • Rick Barry • Shane Battier • Matt Bullard • Joe Bryant • Sam Cassell • Kelvin Cato • Carroll Dawson • Clyde Drexler • Mario Elie • Steve Francis • World B. Free • Eddie Griffin • Chuck Hayes • Elvin Hayes • Carl Herrera • Robert Horry • Eddie Johnson • Carl Landry • John Lucas II • Moses Malone • Matt Maloney • Vernon Maxwell • Rodney McCray • Tracy McGrady • Cuttino Mobley • Calvin Murphy • Dikembe Mutombo • Moochie Norris • Hakeem Olajuwon • Scottie Pippen • Robert Reid • Glen Rice • Pat Riley • Ralph Sampson • Luis Scola • Kenny Smith • Maurice Taylor • Otis Thorpe • Rudy Tomjanovich • Yao Ming Retired Jerseys 22 Drexler • 23 Murphy • 24 Malone • 34 Olajuwon • 45 Tomjanovich • CD Dawson Hall of Famers Charles Barkley • Rick Barry • Clyde Drexler • Elvin Hayes • Moses Malone • Calvin Murphy • Hakeem Olajuwon D-League Affiliate Rio Grande Valley Vipers Rivals Dallas Mavericks • Los Angeles Lakers • New Orleans Hornets • San Antonio Spurs • Utah Jazz