#1994 and 1995 houston rockets roster professional
#1994 and 1995 houston rockets roster series

#1994 and 1995 houston rockets roster professional

I feel like this should be considered an all-time great run and I think it gets overlooked a bit in the big picture.NBA professional basketball team season 1996–97 Houston Rockets season

#1994 and 1995 houston rockets roster series

The Rockets finished as the 6th seed and won on-the-road playoff series against all four literal best teams in the league, playing against four MVP calibre players, pushing every western conference round to the edge to do so. Hakeem wins Finals MVP against Shaq, avergaing 33/12/6/2/2. All four players have excellent playoff series, but it ultimately doesn't matter as the Rockets simply sweep the Magic in 4. It becomes a 2v2 matchup between Hakeem and Clyde vs Shaq and Anfernee Hardaway. The Finals were against Shaquille O'Neal's Orlando Magic who were the 1st seed in the east with a 59-23 record. The Rockets beat the top-seeded Spurs against the league MVP in 6 games to make the NBA Finals again. Hakeem outperformed the MVP quite handily, averaging 35/13/5/1/4 on 59% TS. Hakeem vs The Admiral was an obvious dream mathcup for the WCF, but it wasn't that close of a matchup. The Western Conference Finals were the 6th seeded Houston Rockets against the 1st seeded 62-20 San Antonio Spurs. In the end, Houston vanquished them, beating them in 7 and coming back from a 3-1 deficit to do it. It was actually Kevin Johnson doing most of the damage for Phoenix (including a 46 point game in game 7) and was the best player in the series. Drexler was good, not great, but Hakeem was excellent and did a relatively good job defending Barkley. In the second round they come up against the 2nd seed 59-23 Phoenix Suns. Malone was great while Stockton was arguably beaten by Kenny Smith, with Kenny averaging 18 points on 81% TS while (presumably) defended by Stockton. Hakeem and Clyde combine for 60/15/8/3/3 averages on elite efficiency to upset the Jazz. Then you look at the teams they beat to get to the finals:įirst round they defeat the 3rd seeded 60-22 Utah Jazz in 5 games (best of 5), winning the deciding game in Utah. They are the lowest-seeded team to ever win the championship. 29-17 before the All-Star break and a break even of 18-18 post ASB, even after acquiring Drexler. The Rockets had won the championship the year before, yet they finished as the 6th seed in the West with only a 47-35 record, 11 games worse than the year before.

Hakeem makes 3rd team All-NBA behind Shaquille O'Neal on the 2nd team and MVP David Robinson on the 1st team. Their starting lineup was Hakeem Olajuwon, Kenny Smith, Vernon Maxwell, Robert Horry and Clyde Drexler (who they traded for at the deadline, great move). Maybe it's because it fell into Jordan's gap year, but when you look at what the Rockets accomplished in that year it's pretty remarkable. I feel like one of the more forgotten championships is the 1994-1995 Houston Rockets, who may have taken the hardest possible path to a ring in recent memory. When people talk about 'hard' rings and which championships are 'worth the most', the default answer is usually the 2011 Mavericks who won with only 1 star and a bunch of smart veterans all playing their part.