1995 NBA Finals

The 1995 NBA Finals was the championship series of the National Basketball Association's (NBA) 1994–95 season, and the conclusion of the season's playoffs. The series pitted the Eastern Conference champion Orlando Magic against the defending NBA champion and Western Conference champion Houston Rockets. The pre-series hype and buildup of the Finals was centered on the meeting of the two centers opposing each other: 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.

1995 NBA Finals

Team Coach Wins Houston Rockets Rudy Tomjanovich 4 Orlando Magic Brian Hill 0
Dates	June 7–14
MVP	Hakeem Olajuwon (Houston Rockets)
Hall of Famers	Rockets: Clyde Drexler (2004) Hakeem Olajuwon (2008) Magic: Shaquille O'Neal (2016) Coaches: Rudy Tomjanovich (2020) Officials: Dick Bavetta (2015) Hugh Evans (2022)
Eastern finals	Magic defeated Pacers, 4–3
Western finals	Rockets defeated Spurs, 4–2

The Rockets 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 nine road games in the 1995 playoffs. It was the second NBA Finals sweep in the 2–3–2 Finals format (after the Detroit Pistons did so against the Los Angeles Lakers in 1989). The Rockets also became the first repeat NBA Champion in history to keep the title with a sweep. In addition, the Rockets became the first team in NBA history to win the title without having home-court advantage in any of the four playoff rounds since the playoffs was expanded to a 16 team format in 1984. Coincidentally, this feat would also be achieved in the NHL by the New Jersey Devils that same year, when they won the Stanley Cup over the Detroit Red Wings. This is also the first time in both the NBA and NHL history where both finals consist of the heavily favored number one seeded team both being swept.

The Orlando Magic, making their first NBA Finals appearance, began the series at home, hosting the defending champion Houston Rockets. With the Magic up 110–107 late in Game 1, Nick Anderson missed four consecutive free throws in the closing seconds of the game, and Kenny Smith hit a three-pointer, tying the game and sending it to overtime as well as setting a new Finals record, with the most three-pointers in an NBA Finals game with seven (later broken by Ray Allen, who hit eight three-pointers during Game 2 of the 2010 NBA Finals). The more experienced Rockets went on to win in overtime and eventually swept the Magic, winning their second consecutive NBA Championship. In achieving this, they earned the distinction of being the only team to win both championships during Michael Jordan's first retirement (although Jordan did return in the closing months of the 1994–95 season), in addition to being the only team other than the Chicago Bulls to win multiple championships in the 1990s. This was also the second consecutive 90s championship series not featuring the Chicago Bulls, a streak the Bulls would end in 1996.

The season-ending documentary Double Clutch by Hal Douglas, was released by NBA Entertainment to coincide with the Rockets' championship season.

Background

Houston Rockets

Main article: 1994–95 Houston Rockets season

The Rockets entered the 1994–95 season as defending champions. They had won their first eight games of the season, the first defending champions to have won their first eight games of their season since the 1987-88 Lakers. However, they struggled to maintain last season's form due to injuries and off-court-distractions. On February 14, the Rockets acquired Clyde Drexler from the Portland Trail Blazers, but the trade of a hometown hero (Drexler was a teammate of Olajuwon at the University of Houston) did not improve matters, and the Rockets settled for the sixth seed with a 47–35 record.

However, Houston once again lived up to its Clutch City reputation come playoff time. En route to the Finals, the Rockets defeated three teams with 55 or more victories. They began by ousting the Utah Jazz in five games (the Rockets trailed 2–1 after three games), then repeating last season's comeback effort over the Phoenix Suns (wherein the Rockets trailed 3–1 after four games). In Game 7 of that series, Phoenix led Houston 51–42 after the first half before Houston mounted a comeback to get the series win, 115–114. After dispatching the Suns, the Rockets outclassed the top-seeded San Antonio Spurs in six games of the conference finals.

Orlando Magic

Main article: 1994–95 Orlando Magic season

The Magic were only in their sixth season of existence, but they were a team on the rise. Led by All-Stars Shaquille O'Neal and Penny Hardaway, new acquisition Horace Grant, and franchise cornerstones Nick Anderson and Dennis Scott, the Magic rolled through the Eastern Conference, winding up with a then-franchise best 57–25 mark.

Orlando's road to the Finals began with a convincing 3–1 series win over the Boston Celtics. They followed it up with a six-game ouster of Michael Jordan (returning from an 18-month retirement) and the Chicago Bulls in the second round, and in the conference finals, they vanquished the Indiana Pacers in a tough seven-game series.

Road to the Finals

Main article: 1995 NBA Playoffs

Houston Rockets (Western Conference champion)		Orlando Magic (Eastern Conference champion)
# Western Conference Team W L PCT GB 1 z-San Antonio Spurs 62 20 .756 – 2 y-Phoenix Suns 59 23 .720 3 3 x-Utah Jazz 60 22 .732 2 4 x-Seattle SuperSonics 57 25 .695 5 5 x-Los Angeles Lakers 48 34 .585 14 6 x-Houston Rockets 47 35 .573 15 7 x-Portland Trail Blazers 44 38 .537 18 8 x-Denver Nuggets 41 41 .500 21 9 Sacramento Kings 39 43 .476 23 10 Dallas Mavericks 36 46 .439 26 11 Golden State Warriors 26 56 .317 36 12 Minnesota Timberwolves 21 61 .256 41 13 Los Angeles Clippers 17 65 .207 45 6th seed in the West, 11th best league record	Regular season		# Eastern Conference Team W L PCT GB 1 c-Orlando Magic 57 25 .695 – 2 y-Indiana Pacers 52 30 .634 5 3 x-New York Knicks 55 27 .671 2 4 x-Charlotte Hornets 50 32 .610 7 5 x-Chicago Bulls 47 35 .573 10 6 x-Cleveland Cavaliers 43 39 .524 14 7 x-Atlanta Hawks 42 40 .512 15 8 x-Boston Celtics 35 47 .427 22 9 Milwaukee Bucks 34 48 .415 23 10 Miami Heat 32 50 .390 25 11 New Jersey Nets 30 52 .366 27 12 Detroit Pistons 28 54 .341 29 13 Philadelphia 76ers 24 58 .293 33 14 Washington Bullets 21 61 .256 36 1st seed in the East, 4th best league record
Defeated the (3) Utah Jazz, 3–2	First Round		Defeated the (8) Boston Celtics, 3–1
Defeated the (2) Phoenix Suns, 4–3	Conference Semifinals		Defeated the (5) Chicago Bulls, 4–2
Defeated the (1) San Antonio Spurs, 4–2	Conference Finals		Defeated the (2) Indiana Pacers, 4–3

Regular season series

The Orlando Magic won both games in the regular season series:

November 23, 1994

Houston Rockets 94, Orlando Magic 117

Orlando Arena, Orlando, Florida

March 2, 1995

Orlando Magic 107, Houston Rockets 96

The Summit, Houston, Texas

1995 NBA Finals rosters

Houston Rockets

1994–95 Houston Rockets roster

Players

Coaches

Pos. No. Name Height Weight DOB From SF 15 Breaux, Tim 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 215 lb (98 kg) 1970–09–19 Wyoming SF 52 Brown, Chucky 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 214 lb (97 kg) 1968–02–29 NC State PG 10 Cassell, Sam 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 185 lb (84 kg) 1969–11–18 Florida State PF 32 Chilcutt, Pete 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 230 lb (104 kg) 1968–09–14 North Carolina SG 22 Drexler, Clyde 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 210 lb (95 kg) 1962–06–22 Houston SF 17 Elie, Mario 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 210 lb (95 kg) 1963–11–26 American International PF 7 Herrera, Carl 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 215 lb (98 kg) 1966–12–14 Houston PF 25 Horry, Robert 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 220 lb (100 kg) 1970–08–25 Alabama PF 27 Jones, Charles 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 215 lb (98 kg) 1957–04–03 Albany State SG 11 Maxwell, Vernon 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 180 lb (82 kg) 1965–09–12 Florida SF 31 Murray, Tracy 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 225 lb (102 kg) 1971–07–25 UCLA C 34 Olajuwon, Hakeem 7 ft 0 in (2.13 m) 255 lb (116 kg) 1963–01–21 Houston PG 30 Smith, Kenny 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 170 lb (77 kg) 1965–03–08 North Carolina C 55 Tabak, Žan 7 ft 0 in (2.13 m) 245 lb (111 kg) 1970–06–15 Croatia

Head coach Rudy Tomjanovich Assistant coach(es) Bill Berry Jim Boylen Carroll Dawson Larry Smith Legend (DP) Unsigned draft pick (FA) Free agent (S) Suspended Injured

Orlando Magic

1994–95 Orlando Magic roster

Players

Coaches

Pos. No. Name Height Weight DOB From SG 25 Anderson, Nick 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 205 lb (93 kg) 1968–01–20 Illinois PF 00 Avent, Anthony 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 235 lb (107 kg) 1969–10–18 Seton Hall SG 14 Bowie, Anthony 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 190 lb (86 kg) 1963–11–09 Oklahoma PF 54 Grant, Horace 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 215 lb (98 kg) 1965–07–04 Clemson PG 1 Hardaway, Penny 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 195 lb (88 kg) 1971–07–18 Memphis C 32 O'Neal, Shaquille 7 ft 1 in (2.16 m) 325 lb (147 kg) 1972–03–06 LSU C 30 Rollins, Tree 7 ft 1 in (2.16 m) 235 lb (107 kg) 1955–06–16 Clemson SF 5 Royal, Donald 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 210 lb (95 kg) 1966–05–22 Notre Dame SF 3 Scott, Dennis 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 229 lb (104 kg) 1968–09–05 Georgia Tech PG 20 Shaw, Brian 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 190 lb (86 kg) 1966–03–22 UC Santa Barbara PG 22 Thompson, Brooks 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 193 lb (88 kg) 1970–07–19 Oklahoma State PF 31 Turner, Jeff 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 230 lb (104 kg) 1962–04–09 Vanderbilt

Head coach Brian Hill Assistant coach(es) Richie Adubato Tree Rollins Tom Sterner Legend (DP) Unsigned draft pick (FA) Free agent (S) Suspended Injured

Series summary

Game	Date	Road team	Result	Home team
Game 1	June 7	Houston Rockets	120–118 (OT) (1–0)	Orlando Magic
Game 2	June 9	Houston Rockets	117–106 (2–0)	Orlando Magic
Game 3	June 11	Orlando Magic	103–106 (0–3)	Houston Rockets
Game 4	June 14	Orlando Magic	101–113 (0–4)	Houston Rockets

This was one of only two NBA Finals in which the team who did not have home court advantage swept the series, (the other being the 1975 Finals, in which the Golden State Warriors swept the Washington Bullets).

All times are in Eastern Daylight Time (UTC−4).

Game 1

NBC

June 7 9:00 pm

Houston Rockets 120, Orlando Magic 118 (OT)
Scoring by quarter: 19–30, 31–31, 37–19, 23–30, Overtime: 10–8
Pts: Hakeem Olajuwon 31 Rebs: Clyde Drexler 11 Asts: Kenny Smith 9		Pts: Hardaway, O'Neal 26 each Rebs: Grant, O'Neal 16 each Asts: Shaquille O'Neal 9
Houston leads the series, 1–0

Orlando Arena, Orlando, Florida Attendance: 16,010 Referees: No. 27 Dick Bavetta No. 17 Joe Crawford No. 29 Steve Javie

Orlando led 110–107 with 10.5 seconds left, when Nick Anderson was intentionally fouled to send him to the free-throw line. Normally a respectable free-throw shooter (70.4 percent in the regular season), Anderson missed both of his free throws, but was able to grab the offensive rebound after the second miss and was fouled again. Anderson shockingly missed the next two free throws, and Houston grabbed the rebound, and would tie the game with 1.6 seconds left on Kenny Smith's 3-point shot. The shot was one of Smith's seven made 3-point shots, setting a then-Finals record. In overtime, Hakeem Olajuwon tipped in a missed finger roll by Clyde Drexler with three-tenths of a second left to win the game. Hakeem Olajuwon finished the game with 31 points, 6 rebounds, 7 assists and 4 blocks while Kenny Smith recorded 23 points and 9 assists. The four consecutive missed free-throws by Nick Anderson would haunt him for the rest of his career. After the Finals, Anderson would shoot only 60.5% on free-throws for the rest of his career.

Game 2

NBC

June 9 9:00 pm

Houston Rockets 117, Orlando Magic 106
Scoring by quarter: 28–19, 35–22, 27–30, 27–35
Pts: Hakeem Olajuwon 34 Rebs: Hakeem Olajuwon 11 Asts: Clyde Drexler 5		Pts: Shaquille O'Neal 33 Rebs: Shaquille O'Neal 12 Asts: Penny Hardaway 8
Houston leads the series, 2–0

Orlando Arena, Orlando, Florida Attendance: 16,010 Referees: No. 43 Dan Crawford No. 42 Hue Hollins No. 4 Ed T. Rush

Hakeem Olajuwon recorded a double-double with 34 points and 11 rebounds to lead the Rockets to a 117–106 victory and a 2–0 series lead. The Magic, on the other hand, became the 2nd team in NBA Finals history to lose the first two of their four home games.

Game 3

NBC

June 11 7:00 pm

Orlando Magic 103, Houston Rockets 106
Scoring by quarter: 30–28, 23–26, 22–21, 28–31
Pts: Shaquille O'Neal 28 Rebs: Anderson, Grant, O'Neal 10 each Asts: Penny Hardaway 14		Pts: Hakeem Olajuwon 31 Rebs: Hakeem Olajuwon 14 Asts: Drexler, Olajuwon 7 each
Houston leads the series, 3–0

The Summit, Houston, Texas Attendance: 16,611 Referees: No. 25 Hugh Evans No. 13 Mike Mathis No. 15 Bennett Salvatore

Robert Horry hit a three-pointer to give Houston a 104–100 lead with 14.1 seconds left. Orlando's Anfernee Hardaway then missed a three-pointer, and the rebound deflected off Dennis Scott and out of bounds with 6.8 seconds left, turning the ball over to Houston. Clyde Drexler was immediately fouled. He missed his first free throw and made the second for a 105-100 Rockets lead with 5.9 seconds left. Nick Anderson hit a three-pointer with 2.7 seconds left to bring the Magic within two points, and then Sam Cassell was immediately fouled. He needed to make both free throws to likely seal it, but missed the first. He made the second to give the Rockets a three-point lead with 2.2 seconds left. After a timeout to advance the ball to midcourt, the Magic had one last chance to tie the game and force overtime, but Hardaway missed a three-pointer as the buzzer sounded. The Rockets held on for a 106–103 win in Game 3 to take a 3–0 series lead and were one win away from their second consecutive NBA title.

Game 4

NBC

June 14 9:00 pm

Orlando Magic 101, Houston Rockets 113
Scoring by quarter: 21–23, 30–24, 25–30, 25–36
Pts: Hardaway, O'Neal 25 each Rebs: Grant, O'Neal 12 each Asts: Penny Hardaway 5		Pts: Hakeem Olajuwon 35 Rebs: Hakeem Olajuwon 15 Asts: Clyde Drexler 8
Houston wins the NBA Finals, 4–0

The Summit, Houston, Texas Attendance: 16,611 Referees: No. 17 Joe Crawford No. 20 Jess Kersey No. 21 Bill Oakes

At the end of the first half, the Magic had a 4-point advantage over the home team, Rockets. However, the Rockets had another notable comeback as they outscored the Magic 66–50 in the second half, thus winning their second consecutive NBA championship. Olajuwon outscored O'Neal by 10 points and capped off the sweep by hitting a memorable yet uncharacteristic 3-pointer in front of O'Neal. When accepting the Larry O'Brien Trophy on the floor of The Summit, Rockets head coach Rudy Tomjanovich said "Don't ever underestimate the heart of a champion!" Olajuwon, with his 35-point and 15 rebound performance, was named Finals MVP for the second straight year.

Game 4 remains the most recent NBA Finals game played in Houston to date.

Olajuwon v. O'Neal

Although both centers played well, 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:

1995 NBA Finals	Gm 1	Gm 2	Gm 3	Gm 4	Totals
Hakeem Olajuwon	31	34	31	35	32.8 ppg
Shaquille O'Neal	26	33	28	25	28.0 ppg

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.

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

Houston Rockets

Houston Rockets statistics

Player	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
Chucky Brown	4	0	9.5	.455	.000	1.000	2.8	0.0	0.0	0.5	3.0
Sam Cassell	4	0	23.3	.429	.467	.833	1.8	3.0	1.8	0.0	14.3
Pete Chilcutt	3	0	1.0	.000	.000	.000	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Clyde Drexler	4	4	40.5	.450	.154	.789	9.5	6.8	1.0	0.3	21.5
Mario Elie	4	4	40.3	.649	.571	.900	4.3	3.3	2.0	0.0	16.3
Robert Horry	4	4	46.8	.434	.379	.667	10.0	3.8	3.0	2.3	17.8
Charles Jones	4	0	14.3	.500	.000	1.000	1.8	0.0	0.0	0.0	1.0
Hakeem Olajuwon	4	4	44.8	.483	1.000	.692	11.5	5.5	2.0	2.0	32.8
Kenny Smith	4	4	26.3	.379	.421	.000	1.8	4.0	0.3	0.0	7.5

Orlando Magic

Orlando Magic statistics

Player	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
Nick Anderson	4	4	40.3	.360	.323	.300	8.5	4.3	2.0	0.5	12.3
Anthony Bowie	4	0	6.5	.600	.500	.000	0.5	1.5	0.0	0.3	3.3
Horace Grant	4	4	42.0	.532	.000	.800	12.0	1.5	0.5	0.5	13.5
Penny Hardaway	4	4	43.0	.500	.458	.913	4.8	8.0	1.0	0.8	25.5
Shaquille O'Neal	4	4	45.0	.595	.000	.571	12.5	6.3	0.3	2.5	28.0
Donald Royal	1	0	1.0	.000	.000	.000	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Dennis Scott	4	4	37.5	.310	.241	1.000	3.5	2.3	1.0	0.3	10.5
Brian Shaw	4	0	21.0	.426	.385	.000	3.3	3.3	0.5	0.3	12.5
Jeff Turner	4	0	10.8	.200	.333	.000	1.0	0.5	0.0	0.0	1.5

Media coverage

In the United States, the NBA Finals was broadcast on NBC television, with Marv Albert, Matt Guokas and Bill Walton calling the action. Ahmad Rashad, Hannah Storm, and Jim Gray served as sideline reporters, and studio coverage was handled by Bob Costas, Julius Erving and Peter Vecsey. The games aired locally on NBC affiliates KPRC-TV (Houston) and WESH (Orlando).

National radio coverage was provided by the NBA Radio Network, with Joe McConnell and Wes Unseld on the call. After the season, NBA Radio was dissolved and subsequent national radio broadcasts of the NBA Finals would be handled by ESPN Radio.

Aftermath

The Rockets' title reign ended in 1996, when they were swept by the Seattle Supersonics in the second round. The Sonics were also the last team to beat the Rockets in the playoffs prior to their championship run, having eliminated them in the second round in 1993. During the subsequent offseason, the Rockets made a blockbuster acquisition in the offseason by securing the services of former NBA MVP and 9-time All-Star Charles Barkley. But age and injuries would take its toll on Barkley as this led to the Rockets falling short of being unable to replicate their previous success after their two-year consecutive championship reign, with their closest achievement being a six-game defeat to the Utah Jazz led by Karl Malone and John Stockton in the 1997 Western Conference Finals. As of 2024, this marks the most recent appearance by the Rockets in the finals.

The Magic won a franchise-record 60 games during the 1995–96 NBA season, but were swept by the Michael Jordan-led Chicago Bulls in the 1996 Eastern Conference Finals. During the offseason, Shaquille O'Neal signed with the Los Angeles Lakers, with whom he went on to win three championships; he later added a fourth title to his resume with the Miami Heat in 2006. The Magic would not return to the Finals until 2009, guided by rising star Dwight Howard, but they were ultimately defeated by the Kobe Bryant-led Los Angeles Lakers in five games. They have not returned since.

External links

• "Shaq and Olajuwon's Game 1 battle in the 1995 NBA Finals deserves a deep rewind". SB Nation. February 23, 2019. Archived from the original on December 21, 2021 – via YouTube.