15 years ago today the Rockets completed the toughest and most unlikely championship runs in the history of the NBA with a sweep of the Magic in the NBA Finals. They finished the regular season 47-35, and that was after starting 9-0. They went just 21-20 during the second half of the season. It was a team that dealt with a great deal of turmoil, especially in the middle of the season when Vernon Maxwell was suspended for 10 games when he attacked a fan in Portland. That resulted in the Clyde Drexler trade, which that was incredibly unpopular in the Rockets locker room. In acquiring Drexler, the Rockets were forced to give up Otis Thorpe, and had people wondering how and if Maxwell would fit in.
The Rockets won all 4 series without homecourt advantage beating Utah (60-22), Phoenix (59-23), San Antonio (62-20), and Orlando (57-25). In the first 2 rounds, they faced 5 elimination games, 3 of them coming on the road. Of their 15-playoff wins, 9 came on the road. The Rockets went 9-3 on the road, including winning their last 7 road games, while going just 6-4 at the Summit.
Adversity for the ’95 Rockets wasn’t just limited to the regular season; they had to deal with their fair share in the playoffs as well. Today, teams carry 15 players on a roster, and they dress 12. Who dresses and who doesn’t can change on a game-by-game basis. That wasn’t the case back in 1995. Before the playoffs started you announced a 12-man roster, and that was it. You couldn’t make changes no matter the situation. The Rockets wound up with a 10-man roster. Even though missed the last 21 games of the regular, and wouldn’t be able to play at the start of the playoffs, they put key reserve Carl Herrera on the playoff roster. He was finally able to play in game 4 of the Utah series, but was only able to go 6 minutes before dislocating his shoulder for the third time in a year, thus ending his postseason.
Unfortunately Herrera was the second player the Rockets lost in the Jazz series. After playing 16 bad minutes in game 1 at the Delta Center, Maxwell left them team, and that was the end of his Rockets career. The season was a nightmare for him, starting with the death of his infant daughter, which led to the incident in Portland. He then lost his job once Drexler joined the team, and then he came down with anemia, so he was never able to integrate himself into the Drexler led backcourt, and while losing Maxwell hurt the team, it was probably best that he left. He wasn’t happy, and he was letting that affect the team.
With the Drexler trade, and the losses of Maxwell and Herrera, the Rockets were without 2 starters and a key reserve from the 1994 championship team. Its hard enough to make that sort of adjustment when you have a whole season and training camp, so just think about how difficult it was making those major changes more than halfway into the season and in the playoffs.
Speaking of change, after the Rockets gave back a 2-0 lead against the Spurs in the Western Conference Finals (they won the first 2 in San Antonio, then lost the next two in Houston) Rudy Tomjanovich changed his starting lineup. He moved Robert Horry to power forward, and inserted Mario Elie into the 3 spot. The Rockets won the next 6 games, which won them the championship. Its not often that a coach changes his starting lineup that deep into the playoffs, and when they do, rarely does it actually work.
As for individual performances, it starts and ends with Hakeem Olajuwon, who had as great a postseason as anyone has ever had. He put up 33 points a game, while having to play against greats like Malone, Barkley, Robinson, and Shaq. He dominated them all, especially the last two. He also played over 42 minutes a game, which is amazing for a big man, but actually down from the 1994 run. He went for 40 points 5 times in 22 games, and was held under 30 just 6 times. He vaulted himself way ahead of the other great centers of that era.
Even though the 1995 Rockets won’t go down as one of the great teams we’ve seen in NBA history, the playoff run that ended 15 years ago today deserves to be talked about as one of the great runs is the history of the league because of how difficult it was, and how brilliantly they played over that 22 game stretch.
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