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1993–94 Houston Rockets season

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1993–94 Houston Rockets season
NBA champions
Conference champions
Division champions
Head coachRudy Tomjanovich
OwnersLeslie Alexander
ArenaThe Summit (Houston)
Results
Record58–24 (.707)
PlaceDivision: 1st (Midwest)
Conference: 2nd (Western)
Playoff finishNBA Champions
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com
< 1992–93 1994–95 >

The 1993–94 NBA season was the Houston Rockets' 27th season in the NBA and their 23rd season in Houston.[1] The Rockets went off to a great start, winning their first fifteen games to tie the 1948–49 Washington Capitols for the best unbeaten record to open a season.[2] After losing to the Atlanta Hawks, the Rockets won the next seven games as well, falling just one victory shy of tying the 1969–70 Knicks (23–1) for the best record with one defeat in NBA history.[3] However, the Rockets would cool off as the season progressed, at one point losing four games in a row. Still, they finished first in the Midwest Division with a 58–24 record.

Hakeem Olajuwon won the league's Most Valuable Player award, ahead of David Robinson of the San Antonio Spurs and Scottie Pippen of the Chicago Bulls.[4] Anchoring one of the league's best defenses, Olajuwon also won the NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award for the second consecutive year, also beating out Robinson by a narrow 23 to 22 votes.

In the playoffs, the Rockets defeated the Portland Trail Blazers in the first round, then defeated the Phoenix Suns in the semifinals and the Utah Jazz in the Western Conference Finals. In the 1994 NBA Finals, they defeated the New York Knicks in seven games, and won their first championship in franchise history. It was the Rockets' third NBA finals appearance, after 1981 and 1986. Olajuwon was the only player of the 1985–86 Rockets to still be on the 1993–94 team.

Offseason

NBA draft

Round Pick Player Position Nationality School or club team
1 24 Sam Cassell Guard  United States Florida State
2 46 Richard Petruska Center  United States UCLA
2 50 Marcelo Nicola Forward  Argentina Taugres (Spain)

Roster

Houston Rockets roster
Players Coaches
Pos. No. Name Height Weight DOB From
PG 1 United States Brooks, Scott 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) 165 lb (75 kg) UC Irvine
PF 50 United States Bullard, Matt 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 215 lb (98 kg) Iowa
PG 10 United States Cassell, Sam 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 185 lb (84 kg) Florida State
PF 35 United States Cureton, Earl 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 210 lb (95 kg) Detroit Mercy
SF 17 United States Elie, Mario 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 210 lb (95 kg) American International
PF 7 United States Herrera, Carl 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 215 lb (98 kg) Houston
SF 25 United States Horry, Robert 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 220 lb (100 kg) Alabama
SF 21 United States Jent, Chris 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 220 lb (100 kg) Ohio State
SG 11 United States Maxwell, Vernon 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 180 lb (82 kg) Florida
C 34 Nigeria Olajuwon, Hakeem (C) 7 ft 0 in (2.13 m) 255 lb (116 kg) Houston
C 3 Slovakia Petruska, Richard 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 260 lb (118 kg) UCLA
C 42 United States Riley, Eric 7 ft 0 in (2.13 m) 245 lb (111 kg) Michigan
SG 20 United States Robinson, Larry 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 190 lb (86 kg) Centenary
PG 30 United States Smith, Kenny 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 170 lb (77 kg) North Carolina
PF 33 United States Thorpe, Otis (C) 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 225 lb (102 kg) Providence
Head coach
Legend
  • (DP) Unsigned draft pick
  • (FA) Free agent
  • (S) Suspended
  • Injured Injured

Roster

Regular season

Season standings

Midwest Division
 W L PCT GB Home Road Div
y-Houston Rockets 58 24 .707 — 35–6 23–18 15–11
x-San Antonio Spurs 55 27 .671 3 32–9 23–18 16–10
x-Utah Jazz 53 29 .646 5 33–8 20–21 21–5
x-Denver Nuggets 42 40 .512 16 28–13 14–27 14–12
Minnesota Timberwolves 20 62 .244 38 13–28 7–34 5–21
Dallas Mavericks 13 69 .159 45 6–35 7–34 7–19
#
Western Conference
Team W L PCT GB
1 z-Seattle SuperSonics 63 19 .768 –
2 y-Houston Rockets 58 24 .707 5
3 x-Phoenix Suns 56 26 .683 7
4 x-San Antonio Spurs 55 27 .671 8
5 x-Utah Jazz 53 29 .646 10
6 x-Golden State Warriors 50 32 .610 13
7 x-Portland Trail Blazers 47 35 .573 16
8 x-Denver Nuggets 42 40 .512 21
9 Los Angeles Lakers 33 49 .402 30
10 Sacramento Kings 28 54 .341 35
11 Los Angeles Clippers 27 55 .329 36
12 Minnesota Timberwolves 20 62 .244 43
13 Dallas Mavericks 13 69 .159 50

Game log

Player statistics

Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game
 FG%  Field-goal percentage  3P%  3-point field-goal percentage  FT%  Free-throw percentage
 RPG  Rebounds per game  APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game
 BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game

Regular season

Player GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
Scott Brooks 73 0 16.8 .491 .377 .871 1.4 2.0 .70 .03 5.2
Matt Bullard 65 0 11.2 .345 .325 .769 1.3 1.0 .22 .09 3.5
Sam Cassell 66 6 17.0 .418 .295 .841 2.0 2.9 .89 .11 6.7
Earl Cureton 2 0 15.0 .250 .000 .000 6.0 .0 .00 .00 2.0
Mario Elie 67 8 24.0 .446 .335 .860 2.7 3.1 .75 .12 9.3
Carl Herrera 75 0 17.2 .458 .000 .711 3.8 .5 .43 .35 4.7
Robert Horry 81 81 29.3 .459 .324 .732 5.4 2.9 1.47 .93 9.9
Chris Jent 3 0 26.0 .500 .364 .500 5.0 2.3 .00 .00 10.3
Vernon Maxwell 75 73 34.3 .389 .298 .749 3.1 5.1 1.67 .27 13.6
Hakeem Olajuwon 80 80 41.0 .528 .421 .716 11.9 3.6 1.60 3.71 27.3
Richard Petruška 22 0 4.2 .435 .467 .750 1.4 .0 .09 .14 2.4
Eric Riley 47 2 4.7 .486 .000 .541 1.3 .2 .11 .19 1.9
Larry Robinson 6 0 9.2 .500 .250 .375 1.7 1.0 1.17 .00 4.2
Kenny Smith 78 78 28.3 .480 .405 .871 1.8 4.2 .76 .05 11.6
Otis Thorpe 82 82 35.5 .561 .000 .657 10.6 2.3 .80 .34 14.0

Playoffs

Player GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
Scott Brooks 5 0 4.6 .833 1.000 .000 .4 .6 .00 .00 2.2
Matt Bullard 10 0 5.5 .211 .200 .750 1.0 .0 .10 .20 1.6
Sam Cassell 22 0 21.7 .394 .378 .865 2.7 4.2 .95 .23 9.4
Earl Cureton 10 0 10.0 .800 .000 1.000 2.9 .2 .10 .20 1.8
Mario Elie 23 0 16.6 .396 .313 .851 1.7 1.7 .35 .13 5.8
Carl Herrera 16 0 15.5 .534 .000 .813 2.8 .2 .31 .19 4.7
Robert Horry 23 23 33.8 .434 .382 .765 6.1 3.6 1.52 .87 11.7
Chris Jent 11 0 5.6 .250 .231 .000 .8 .6 .18 .00 1.2
Vernon Maxwell 23 23 38.3 .376 .326 .685 3.5 4.2 .87 .09 13.8
Hakeem Olajuwon 23 23 43.0 .519 .500 .795 11.0 4.3 1.74 4.00 28.9
Kenny Smith 23 23 30.3 .455 .447 .808 2.3 4.1 .96 .17 10.8
Otis Thorpe 23 23 37.1 .572 .500 .567 9.9 2.3 .57 .43 11.3

Playoffs

Western Conference first round

(2) Houston Rockets vs. (7) Portland Trail Blazers: Rockets win series 3–1

  • Game 1 @ The Summit, Houston (April 29): Houston 115, Portland 104
  • Game 2 @ The Summit, Houston (May 1): Houston 114, Portland 104
  • Game 3 @ Memorial Coliseum, Portland (May 3): Portland 118, Houston 115
  • Game 4 @ Memorial Coliseum, Portland (May 6): Houston 92, Portland 89

Last playoff meeting: 1987 Western Conference First Round (Houston won 3–1)

West Conference Semifinals

(2) Houston Rockets vs. (3) Phoenix Suns: Rockets win series 4–3

Last playoff meeting: This was the first meeting between the Rockets and Suns.

West Conference Finals

(2) Houston Rockets vs. (5) Utah Jazz: Rockets win series 4–1

  • Game 1 @ The Summit, Houston (May 23): Houston 100, Utah 88
  • Game 2 @ The Summit, Houston (May 25): Houston 104, Utah 99
  • Game 3 @ Delta Center, Salt Lake City (May 27): Utah 95, Houston 86
  • Game 4 @ Delta Center, Salt Lake City (May 29): Houston 80, Utah 78
  • Game 5 @ The Summit, Houston (May 31): Houston 94, Utah 83

Last playoff meeting: 1985 Western Conference first round (Utah won 3–2)

NBA finals

1994 NBA Finals roster

Head Coach: Rudy Tomjanovich
Hakeem Olajuwon | Otis Thorpe | Vernon Maxwell | Robert Horry | Mario Elie | Sam Cassell | Chris Jent | Carl Herrera | Scott Brooks | Larry Robinson | Matt Bullard | Richard Petruska | Earl Cureton | Eric Riley | Kenny Smith |

Series summary

Game Date Home team Result Road team
Game 1 June 8 Houston 85–78 New York
Game 2 June 10 Houston 83–91 New York
Game 3 June 12 New York 89–93 Houston
Game 4 June 15 New York 91–82 Houston
Game 5 June 17 New York 91–84 Houston
Game 6 June 19 Houston 86–84 New York
Game 7 June 22 Houston 90–84 New York

Rockets win series 4–3

Interruption of Game 5 telecast by O. J. Simpson car chase

See also: O. J. Simpson murder case

During Game 5 (June 17, 1994), most NBC affiliates (with the noted exception being WNBC-TV out of New York City) split the coverage of the game between NFL Hall of Famer O. J. Simpson's slow-speed freeway chase with the LAPD. At the time, Simpson had been an NFL analyst on NBC. A visibly confused and distraught Bob Costas (NBC's anchor for their NBA Finals coverage) said during the telecast from Madison Square Garden that the Simpson situation was "not just tragic but now surreal".

Award winners

NBA All-Star Game

References

  1. ^ 1993–94 Houston Rockets
  2. ^ "Knicks Are All Talk but No Action Versus Rockets". New York Times. December 3, 1993.
  3. ^ "Buzzer-Beating Shot Makes Rockets 22-1". New York Times. December 22, 1993.
  4. ^ "Rockets' Olajuwon Named Most Valuable Player". New York Times. May 25, 1994.
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