1994-95 NBA Finals

Result

Games

Finals MVP

Hakeem Olajuwon. Olajuwon was named Finals MVP for the second consecutive year, averaging 32.8 points and 11.5 rebounds across the four games.

Series context

The 1995 NBA Finals pitted the defending champion Houston Rockets against a young, ascendant Orlando Magic team making its first Finals appearance. Houston had entered the playoffs as the sixth seed in the Western Conference with a modest 47-35 regular-season record after a mid-season trade brought Clyde Drexler to Houston to reunite him with former University of Houston teammate Hakeem Olajuwon. The Rockets went on an improbable playoff run, becoming the lowest-seeded team ever to win an NBA championship, memorably eliminating the 60-win Phoenix Suns, the San Antonio Spurs (with league MVP David Robinson), and the Utah Jazz along the way. Orlando, by contrast, had the best record in franchise history at 57-25 and boasted a roster anchored by a 23-year-old Shaquille O'Neal and All-Star point guard Anfernee 'Penny' Hardaway, bolstered by the offseason free-agent signing of Horace Grant. Despite the talent gap seeming to favor the younger, more explosive Magic, Houston's championship experience and Olajuwon's dominance proved decisive. The series opened in Orlando with a dramatic Game 1: the Magic appeared to have the win in hand, but Nick Anderson missed four consecutive free throws in the final seconds of regulation, allowing Kenny Smith to force overtime with a clutch three-pointer, part of a Finals-record seven three-pointers made by Smith in the game; Houston won 120-118 in overtime. The Rockets took Game 2 as well, 117-106, behind 34 points and 11 rebounds from Olajuwon, sending the series to Houston with the Magic having lost both home games. Back in Houston, Robert Horry's three-pointer with 14.1 seconds left sealed a 106-103 Game 3 win, and the Rockets completed the sweep in Game 4, 113-101, outscoring Orlando by a wide margin in the second half as Olajuwon closed with 35 points and 15 rebounds. Olajuwon's head-to-head dominance over the younger O'Neal throughout the series became a defining storyline, cementing 'The Dream' as one of the era's greatest centers and giving the Rockets back-to-back titles. It also marked the last Finals appearance for Orlando until 2009, and the sweep meant that Houston, despite its low playoff seed, joined a short list of franchises to repeat as NBA champions during the 1990s alongside the Bulls. Olajuwon was named Finals MVP for the second consecutive year, averaging 32.8 points across the four games and scoring at least 30 in every contest, including 34 points and 11 rebounds in Game 2 and 35 points and 15 rebounds to close out the sweep in Game 4. Houston's postseason run to get there was as improbable as its Finals sweep was decisive: as the sixth seed, the Rockets beat Utah in five games, rallied from a 3-1 deficit to beat top-seeded Phoenix in seven (winning Game 7 on the road, 115-114), and then upset David Robinson's top-seeded San Antonio Spurs in six games in the conference finals, never holding home-court advantage in any round. Orlando's own path had included eliminating a returning Michael Jordan and the Bulls in six games in the second round before beating Indiana in seven in the conference finals, making the Magic's sweep at Houston's hands a stinging setback for a young core many expected to contend for years. The Rockets' championship made them the lowest-seeded team ever to win an NBA title, a distinction they still hold.

Sources

• Wikipedia - 1995 NBA Finals
• Basketball-Reference - 1995 NBA Finals