1994 NBA Championship Run vs Knicks

Lore & Background

The series was a meeting of two great centers, Hakeem Olajuwon and Patrick Ewing, who had previously played for a championship in college. In 1984, while Olajuwon was with the University of Houston and Ewing with Georgetown University, Georgetown beat Houston 84–75 in the 1984 NCAA Championship game. In this series, Olajuwon outperformed Ewing, outscoring him in every game and posting 26.9 ppg on 50.0% shooting compared to Ewing's 18.9 ppg on 36.3% shooting. Ewing set an NBA Finals record with 30 blocks. In Game 6, Olajuwon blocked a last-second three-point shot attempt by John Starks that would have given the Knicks their third NBA title, instead giving the Rockets an 86–84 victory and forcing a Game 7. The Rockets beat the Knicks in Game 7, 90–84, enabling Houston to celebrate its first NBA and fifth professional sports championship. Olajuwon was named NBA Finals MVP.

Reader's Guide

The Rockets played seven low-scoring, defensive games against the Knicks. After splitting the first two games in Houston, the Knicks won two out of three games at Madison Square Garden. The series was the first championship series since 1990 without the Chicago Bulls. NBC Sports used Ahmad Rashad (Knicks sideline) and Hannah Storm (Rockets sideline). Marv Albert and Matt Guokas called the action. Hal Douglas narrated the season-ending documentary 'Clutch City' for NBA Entertainment.

Did You Know?

• This was Hakeem Olajuwon's second NBA Finals appearance; his first was in 1986 when the Boston Celtics defeated the Rockets four games to two.
• The Knicks set a record for most playoff games played in one season, with 25.
• Knicks coach Pat Riley became the first (and to date, the only) coach to lose a Game 7 NBA Finals on two teams, having lost to the Celtics in 1984.
• This was the first professional championship for the city of Houston since 1975.