Looking Back
1995: The Heart of a Champion
By Dave Winder
 Hakeem Olajuwon garnered his second consecutive championship series MVP trophy. |
The Rockets remembered 1994, however.
They remembered overcoming an 0-2 deficit to beat the Phoenix Suns in seven games and winning two straight elimination games against the New York Knicks to win the 1994 NBA title. Even if no one else recalled the heart they showed in winning the franchise's first NBA championship, they did.
The 1995 Houston Rockets decided to jog a few memories with their play in the postseason.
The Rockets return trip to the NBA Finals got off to a rocky start as they fell behind the Utah Jazz 2-1 in the opening round of the playoffs. In Game Four, the Rockets got back on track as Clyde Drexler, who had come to Houston in a midseason trade, scored 41 points and Hakeem Olajuwon scored 40 points in a 123-106 win. In Game Five, the Rockets erased a 12-point third-quarter deficit to win 95-91 in Utah as Olajuwon scored 33 points.
"This reinforces the confidence that we have," Olajuwon said. "If we play together as a team, play to our strengths, it's very difficult for anyone to beat us. This team can do it all again, regardless of the circumstances."
The circumstances would become much tougher in the Western Conference Semifinals against the Suns. Phoenix took a 3-1 lead over Houston after blowing them out in Games One and Two and then erasing a 15-point lead to steal Game Four 114-110. Only four teams had ever come back from a 3-1 deficit to win a series, the last being the 1981 Boston Celtics.
"It won't happen," Phoenix forward A.C. Green said after being asked if the Suns could blow a 3-1 lead. "That's the way I look at it. I'm sure there are people who will come up with some kind of scenario where it could happen. But it's not going to happen."
Then-Suns forward Charles Barkley said he was tired of hearing about how well the Rockets play when faced with elimination.
"I'm sick of hearing them talking about how well they're going to play with their back against the wall," Barkley said. "They're always down in the series, and that's all they ever say. I don't think any team in the world can beat us three straight games when two of them are in Phoenix."
Phoenix guard Kevin Johnson wasn't quite ready to write the Rockets off, though.
"The heart of a champion doesn't die easily," Johnson said. "In fact, it doesn't die at all. You've got to find a way to snuff it out."
The Rockets got 31 points from Olajuwon and a strong all-around effort from Robert Horry to claim a 103-97 Game Five win in overtime. In Game Six, Olajuwon had a team-high 30 points as Houston shot three-pointers on Phoenix all night to force Game Seven with a 116-103 win. "We have no pressure, we have no reason to be tight," Olajuwon said after Game Six. "We are not even supposed to be here now. We have just come to have fun."
The Rockets weren't having much fun in the first half of Game Seven as they fell behind by ten points. In the second half, they played their best 24 minutes of basketball all season, shooting 73 percent from the field and shutting down the Suns' high scoring offense. With 20 seconds left in the game, Johnson missed his first free throw in 22 attempts to leave the score tied at 110.
It wouldn't stay tied for long. With 7.1 seconds left in the game, Horry found a wide-open Mario Elie, who sank his three-point shot to give the Rockets a 113-110 lead. As the Suns called timeout, Elie looked to his right and gave all of Phoenix a kiss goodbye as the Rockets ended up prevailing 115-114.
"We are a team of destiny," Olajuwon said. "That's the only way to explain it. You could see it coming."
One team that must not have been looking hard enough to see the Rockets coming was the San Antonio Spurs. After being beaten by the Spurs 5-1 during the regular season, the Rockets took the floor against them in Game One of the Western Conference Finals and gained a 1-0 lead in the series when Horry hit a jumper from the foul line with 6.5 seconds left in the game, giving the Rockets a 94-93 win.
Before the start of Game Two, Spurs' center David Robinson was recognized as the MVP of the NBA. Olajuwon, who had won the award the year before, finished fifth in the balloting. "They gave David his award on the floor right before the game started," Rockets television play-by-play announcer Bill Worrell said. "When he got the trophy, he said it was such an honor to receive an award that so many other great centers had won. He didn't name Hakeem. I always thought that was David's biggest mistake in the series."
Robinson put up MVP-like numbers with 32 points and 12 rebounds but was clearly outplayed by Olajuwon, who had 41 points and 16 rebounds in the Rockets' 106-96 win. Olajuwon scored 29 of his points in the second half.
The Spurs won Games Three and Four in Houston to regain the home-court advantage, but the Rockets took it right back from them when Olajuwon scored 42 points in a 111-90 win in Game Five. The Rockets center then made sure that there would not be a Game Seven. He scored 39 points, grabbed 17 rebounds, and blocked five shots in a 100-95 Game Six win to send Houston back to the NBA Finals. In the series, Olajuwon averaged 35.3 points per game and put on one of the most dominating displays in NBA history.
"I've never seen anybody on this planet who can do all the things he does," Drexler said. "Of course I think there should be another MVP vote. They've given away his trophy. All we can do now is get the championship trophy."
The Orlando Magic was the only team left to prevent the Rockets from collecting back-to-back championships. In Game One of the Finals, the Magic raced out to a 20-point lead in the second quarter. Houston worked the deficit down to 11 at halftime and had a seven-point lead going into the fourth quarter.
The Magic fought back to take a three-point lead with a little over a minute left in the game. An Olajuwon turnover should have spelled doom for the Rockets, but they fouled the right Orlando player. Magic guard Nick Anderson missed four straight free throws with 10.5 seconds left in the game to give the Rockets a chance. With 1.6 seconds left, Rockets guard Kenny Smith faked the Magic's Anfernee Hardaway out of his way and calmly sank his Finals-record seventh three-pointer to tie the game at 110.
The two teams played to an overtime score of 118-118 with mere seconds left on the clock. Drexler drove the lane for the final shot, but had to change it at the last moment to keep from being blocked by Shaquille O'Neal. Olajuwon simply tipped in the Drexler miss to give the Rockets a 120-118 win.
In Game Two, Olajuwon scored 34 points and Sam Cassell poured in 31 points to give the Rockets a 117-106 victory and their seventh consecutive road playoff victory.
The Rockets locked up their second straight NBA title with a 106-103 win in Game Three and a 113-101 victory in Game Four. Olajuwon was named the Finals MVP for the second consecutive year and the 1995 Rockets became the first team to ever win four playoff series against opponents with 50 wins or more.
"Nobody has ever done what this team has done ... come from the sixth seed ... down in the series," Coach Rudy Tomjanovich said on the platform as the Rockets were presented with their second straight Larry O'Brien Trophy. "We had nonbelievers all along the way. I have one thing to say to those nonbelievers: Don't ever underestimate the heart of a champion."
