The year was 1994, and on June 22, the Houston Rockets hoisted the Larry O’Brien trophy for the first time in franchise history after taking down the New York Knicks in a dramatic seven-game NBA Finals series. 30 years later, KPRC 2 is celebrating the Rockets’ unforgettable run that gave our city its first major league sports championship.
Houston finished the 1993-94 regular season with a 58-24 record, earning the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference and the best record in the Midwest Division. Hakeem Olajuwon led the way with 27.9 points and 11.9 rebounds per game, a stat-line that earned him both the 1994 NBA MVP award and Defensive Player of the Year award.
Thursday night, exclusively on the KPRC 2+ livestream, KPRC 2 Sports Director Randy McIlvoy sits down with Rockets coaching great Rudy Tomjanovich and former player and color analyst Matt Bullard to relive some of the best moments from that season, on the debut of a new show we’re calling ‘Mic’d up with McIlvoy.’
The Playoffs
In the first round of the playoffs, the Rockets faced off against the Portland Trail Blazers, led by Olajuwon’s former University of Houston teammate Clyde Drexler. The Rockets took the first two games of the series by double digits, and Olajuwon went off for 49 points in the Game 2 victory.
A strong fourth quarter earned Portland a win in Game 3, but Houston was able to take care of business and advance following a Game 4 win.
Editor’s note: First-round series were best-of-5 rather than best-of-7 until the rules were changed in 2003.
In the second round, the Rockets took on the Phoenix Suns, who were led by All-Stars Charles Barkley and Kevin Johnson. Despite two 30+ point performances from Olajuwon, the Rockets dropped the first two games of the series at home.
With their backs against the wall, Houston won back-to-back games in Phoenix and took the lead in the series after winning Game 5 at home. The Rockets dropped Game 6 in an uncharacteristically poor shooting night but finished things off at The Summit with a 104-94 win in Game 7. In that contest, rookie guard Sam Cassell scored 22 points and dished out seven assists off the bench.
The Rockets advanced to take on the Utah Jazz in the Western Conference Finals. In Game 1, Olajuwon and Kenny “The Jet” Smith scored 31 and 27, respectively, and Houston cruised to a 12-point victory. Game 2 came down to the wire, but Olajuwon led all scorers with 41 points in the Rockets 104-99 win.
The Jazz got on the board with a win in Game 3, but a late comeback fell just short in Game 4, giving Houston a 3-1 series lead. The Rockets completely smothered the Jazz in Game 5, heading into the half with a commanding 53-35 lead. The Jazz’s comeback came up short, and the Rockets comfortably wrapped up the series in five games.
The Finals
Game 1 of the 1994 Finals was a defensive slugfest, with the Rockets squeaking out an 85-78 victory at home. The most notable takeaway from this game was Olajuwon’s defense on Knicks’ star center Patrick Ewing. The Rockets out-rebounded the Knicks, and Ewing finished with 23 points on just 10-of-26 from the field.
The Knicks exacted revenge in Game 2, as a strong third quarter made the difference in another tightly contested game. It was the definition of a team win for New York, as all five starters scored double digits. John Starks led the way with 19 points for the Knicks (more on him later).
Houston regained the series advantage in Game 3 with a 93-89 win. It was a neck-and-neck duel between the teams’ star centers, but sharpshooting from Houston’s role players—including 15 points of the bench from Cassell—made the difference for the Rockets.
With a chance to take a commanding lead in Game 4, the Rockets cooled off a bit. Olajuwon did his job, scoring an efficient 32 points and forcing Ewing to shoot a ghastly 8-for-28 from the field, but no other Rocket scored more than 12 points. The Knicks took full advantage of this off night, with Starks, Derek Harper and Charles Oakley each having solid performances. The Knicks evened the series with a 91-82 dub.
Game 5 is more remembered for what happened away from the court as the game was happening, as many television stations cut away from the action to follow the infamous O.J. Simpson police chase as it transpired live. On the court however, Ewing put up his most efficient performance in the Finals thus far, scoring 25 points on 11-of-21 shooting. The Rockets trailed by 11 points at halftime, but they had climbed back to tie it heading into the fourth quarter. In the fourth, the Rockets ran out of steam and the Knicks took the pivotal game with a 91-84 win.
Game 6 was win-or-go-home for the Rockets, and they delivered when they needed to most. After taking a 46-36 lead into the locker room, Houston held off a late surge from New York to eke out an 86-84 win. Olajuwon led all scorers with 30 points, and power forward Carl Herrera went a perfect 6-of-6 with 12 points off the bench.
Game 7 at The Summit was for all the marbles. It was extremely close all the way through, but the Rockets quietly outscored the Knicks in every quarter, taking home a 90-84 victory to clinch the championship. Olajuwon and Vernon Maxwell led the Rockets offense to a combined 46 points, but it was Starks’ nightmarish 2-of-18 shooting performance that truly stifled the Knicks.
Hakeem Olajuwon took home Finals MVP in a landslide, averaging 26.9 points and 9.1 boards across the seven games. Maxwell, Cassell and Robert Horry also made their mark across the series, averaging double digits in points.
The series capped of the very first championship in Rockets’ history and put a bow on one of the best seasons by an individual player in NBA history. Hakeem Olajuwon remains one of only three players to win NBA MVP, Defensive Player of the Year and Finals MVP in the same season, along with Michael Jordan and Giannis Antetokounmpo.