1995 NBA Playoffs
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The 1995 NBA Playoffs was the postseason tournament of the National Basketball Association's 1994-1995 season. The tournament concluded with the Western Conference champion Houston Rockets winning their second consecutive NBA championship by defeating the Eastern Conference champion Orlando Magic four games to none in the NBA Finals. The Rockets became the fourth consecutive team to win championships back-to-back (after the Los Angeles Lakers of 1987 and '88, Detroit Pistons of '89 and '90 and Chicago Bulls of '91, '92 and '93).
The 47-35, sixth-seeded Rockets took out four very impressive opponents on their way to the title, defeating the third-seeded Utah Jazz (60-22), the second seeded Phoenix Suns (59-23), the top seeded San Antonio Spurs (62-20) and the Orlando Magic (57-25) in the NBA Finals. In the case of the Suns, the Rockets came back from a 3-1 series deficit and did it without the benefit of home-court advantage. Rockets center Hakeem Olajuwon dominated league MVP David Robinson and Shaquille O'Neal in consecutive series to bring home the championship.
The 1995 playoffs featured the first three playoff series victories in the history of the Magic, as they defeated the Boston Celtics, Chicago Bulls, and Indiana Pacers to win their first (and as of 2008, only) Eastern Conference championship.
The 1995 playoffs featured the return of Michael Jordan to the playoff stage after a year's absence, and the only time the Bulls would fail to win a championship with him on board since they started their string of titles in 1991. After this tournament the Bulls would win three more titles in '96, '97 and '98.
The Indiana Pacers made it to the Eastern Conference Finals for the second consecutive year (and finally defeated the New York Knicks on their way to doing so), but this time found the Magic too powerful to overcome as they had the previous year. Ironically, in this tournament the Pacers met all three of the playoff opponents (Orlando, Atlanta and New York) as they had the previous year-- just in a different order.
Contents |
[edit] Bracket
| First round | Conf. Semifinals | Conf. Finals | NBA Finals | |||||||||||||||
| 1 | San Antonio | 3 | ||||||||||||||||
| 8 | Denver | 0 | ||||||||||||||||
| 1 | San Antonio | 4 | ||||||||||||||||
| 5 | L.A. Lakers | 2 | ||||||||||||||||
| 4 | Seattle | 1 | ||||||||||||||||
| 5 | L.A. Lakers | 3 | ||||||||||||||||
| 1 | San Antonio | 2 | ||||||||||||||||
| Western Conference | ||||||||||||||||||
| 6 | Houston | 4 | ||||||||||||||||
| 3 | Utah | 2 | ||||||||||||||||
| 6 | Houston | 3 | ||||||||||||||||
| 6 | Houston | 4 | ||||||||||||||||
| 2 | Phoenix | 3 | ||||||||||||||||
| 2 | Phoenix | 3 | ||||||||||||||||
| 7 | Portland | 0 | ||||||||||||||||
| W6 | Houston | 4 | ||||||||||||||||
| E1 | Orlando | 0 | ||||||||||||||||
| 1 | Orlando | 3 | ||||||||||||||||
| 8 | Boston | 1 | ||||||||||||||||
| 1 | Orlando | 4 | ||||||||||||||||
| 5 | Chicago | 2 | ||||||||||||||||
| 4 | Charlotte | 1 | ||||||||||||||||
| 5 | Chicago | 3 | ||||||||||||||||
| 1 | Orlando | 4 | ||||||||||||||||
| Eastern Conference | ||||||||||||||||||
| 2 | Indiana | 3 | ||||||||||||||||
| 3 | New York | 3 | ||||||||||||||||
| 6 | Cleveland | 1 | ||||||||||||||||
| 3 | New York | 3 | ||||||||||||||||
| 2 | Indiana | 4 | ||||||||||||||||
| 2 | Indiana | 3 | ||||||||||||||||
| 7 | Atlanta | 0 | ||||||||||||||||
[edit] Notes
- For the third straight postseason, both #5 seeds beat their #4 seeded opponent in the first round.
- The Rockets became the first ever #6 seed to win a title.
[edit] Hakeem Olajuwon
Hakeem Olajuwon was named NBA Finals MVP for the second consecutive season and was the standout player of the 1995 NBA Playoffs. Through the course of the 1995 NBA Playoffs Olajuwon was unstoppable, averaging 33.0 ppg on .531 shooting to go along with averages of 10.3 rpg and 2.81 bpg.[1] In his matchups with O'Neal and particularly Robinson, Olajuwon was especially dominant.
In the Western Conference Finals Olajuwon outscored Robinson in 5 of the 6 games of the series. Only in game 4, where both players scored 20 points, did Robinson approach Olajuwon's scoring output.[2] Over the course of the last two games Olajuwon outscored Robinson 81-41:[2]
| 1995 WC Finals | Gm 1 | Gm 2 | Gm 3 | Gm 4 | Gm 5 | Gm 6 | Totals |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hakeem Olajuwon | 27 | 41 | 43 | 20 | 42 | 39 | 35.3 ppg |
| David Robinson | 21 | 32 | 29 | 20 | 22 | 19 | 23.8 ppg |
In the NBA Finals, Olajuwon faced off against O'Neal. Although both centers played well, Olajuwon is generally considered to have outplayed O'Neal. 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:[2][3]
| 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 |
[edit] References
- ^ nba.com/history, Hakeem Olajuwon accessed January 3, 2007
- ^ a b c hollywoodsportsbook.com, History of the NBA Finals: Hakeem Olajuwon: The NBA’s Best In The Mid ’90s, accessed February 16, 2007
- ^ Basketball.com, NBA Finals Records, accessed February 16, 2007
