How sweet it is. 94 or 95

For sheer drama, you have to go with the second championship.

 

94, I watched most of those guys for come together over a few seasons. kenny, thorpe, max, and olajuwon, those guys were a true team.

 

I will always remember the 95 season more. From getting the 6th spot, running through the Western Conference competition, and then sweeping the Magic. It was special.

 

I vote for the 1995 title, there was so many doubters after the first title. With that repeat the Rockets proved to the whole world they deserve all the respect after beeting all those 60+ win teams from the n°6 seed.

Great effort from all of the guys on that team. Almost every one shot better than 50% in the finals vs the Magic!

 

both were special in their own right, but to me '95 was the one.

we came in as only the 6th seed, had to pull a miraculous 3-1 series comeback against Phoenix, Mario Elie's "Kiss of Death", Hakeem demolishing the "MVP" David Robinson in the WCF, and then Clyde finally getting his ring in a series sweep of the magic.

it was just an unbelievable run to get that 2nd ring.

 

First. The Eagle has landed.

Without the first there would be no second. The first was a giant weight being lifted of your shoulders.

You could savor the second one more though. It was a party. So in that way it might of been sweeter. But first is always best.

 

It's so hard to choose. The first one is like loosing your virginity to your high school sweet heart, can't foget it. Then the second is like having an affair when you are 20 and she is 30, wild and mind blowing. Both are nice and different.

 

i was there for every playoff game in 94 from the suns series on. it was amazing.

i was at the championship game in 95. watched the rest of it from home.

i'm going 95. so ridiculously dramatic. and such validation for the franchise. there was the whole asterisk thing with 94...but after the 95 season thing..wow.

the jazz series...realizing during game 2 just how good this team "could" be together. that tight, tight game 5 with drexler hitting all those clutch free throws down the stretch. i was at baylor and everyone kept telling me there was no way in the world the rockets could beat the jazz. man, that was sweet.

down 3-1 to the suns...coming back. kiss of death. did i mention we were down 3-1?

the spurs. HAKEEM OLAJUWON. wow. i remember thinking, "it doesn't matter how good SA is, anymore" before the series started. because the rockets were just hitting on all cylinders. frankly, it's why i say that rockets team could have beaten anyone. because by that point, they were outmatched on paper every series. every game. it just didn't matter.

the magic. kenny freaking smith. robert horry all over the place. a sweep? seriously?? down about 20 in the first half of game 1...come back and win it. and then dominate the rest of the games.

as my father said the next morning, "i feel a sense of disappointment. i've never seen anything like that in pro sports before, and I get the sense i'll never see it again. i'm sad it's over."

 

1994

1. 1995's 6th seed was overblown. the fact that dream was hurt and clyde came in when dream was hurt ruined our higher seed. obviously we were a better team (full strength)than our record indicated.

2. defense - The Rockets defense was spectacular in 1994. Dream was MVP, Otis was grabbing boards and Horry was blocking shots left and right. And Max played great D. No 46point outings for Kevin Johnson.

3. chemistry - we won 15 straight at the begnning of the year. it was special.
plus this team has been playing together for awhile, only real new edition was Sam.
4. This team easily demolished the Utah Jazz, which the later Rocket teams had so much trouble with.

5. Kenny Smith was dunking.

6. 1995, we had major luck on our side. God's hand swatting Wesley Person, Barkley, and Nick Anderson. Granted this was very exciting.
1994, we had Hakeem Swatting John Starks.

7. We were already beloved as champions in 1995. There was doubt from the city after the Oilers fiasco, that any team would win anything in Choke City.

 

i disagree with this. we struggled all season...until the last few weeks. we struggled enough to have a championship team make a trade mid-season involving it's ONLY real power forward in exchange for a 2-guard...when our own 2-guard, Max, was still the 2nd leading scorer on the team. that was a MAJOR shakeup for a chemistry standpoint and a real gamble.

obviously we were a better team at full strength than not at full strength. but even at full strength the rockets weren't playing anywhere close to what they played the previous season.

the team started to gel after the trade...but you got the sense they were finally putting it together actually DURING the playoffs. DURING the Jazz series.

 

rudy also made Horry the PF and Elie the SF. This turned Horry, into the 3point shooting machine. He was known more for his block shots and dunks in the previous season.

Maxwell was out also for awhile because of Anemia. This teams chemistry gelled in the playoffs, i agree with that, but 1994, the chemistry was always there since the 1st game.

The big surprise of 1994 was Cassell.

The 1994 team got more disrespect too. I can never forgive Sports Illustrated for not initially having a championship edition. After the entire city of houston threatened to cancel their subscriptions, did they actually print it.

Also, the NBA and NBC wanted BADLY for the KNICKS to win.

 

My thoughts exactly. I only wish we had the patience today to allow a team to build chemistry like that one.

 

yeah, i agree with everything you just said.

 

I voted 94. But then, I actually went to Games 6 and 7 against the Knicks. Barely went to any playoff games the next year.

 

How about SI not even putting the Rockets on the cover?

To this day I have not paid for a copy of that vile rag. Sure, I may look at it in the barber shop, but I will never give a dime to SI again... waiting my whole life for a Houston Championship Team to be on the cover and then... a soccer guy. Ugh. And you know Ewing would have been on the cover if the Knicks had won.



Disgusting!

 

ya'll musta forgot.

with 94 you have the first houston championship, off of choke city, off of all the oiler chokes. if you're not from houston and only root for the rockets, I can understand you picking 95, but if you're from houston I really don't see how you can't go with 94. the parade,it was emotional.

 

'95 for me. To be honest, I wasn't even following the Rockets during the first championship (yeah, late to the party I know) but my favourite player happened to be Drexler back then. After the Valentine's Day trade, I started looking out for the team's results.. one astonishing comeback-laden run to the Finals later, I knew I'd been converted for life. Dream was simply unreal, and all the unlikely heroes who stepped up big time in the playoffs.. man, memories

 

It's so funny that you posted that cover today. Last night, I was moving a bookshelf from one room to the other and, as I was taking the books off, I ran across that issue. I had forgotten about it and wondered why I had an old SI mag with soccer on the front cover. Then I opened it up and remembered why I kept it.

My Dad called to cancel his subscription after that issue and ended up taking his frustrations out on the poor rep who made the mistake of asking him why he was cancelling.


I have to go with 95 mostly because it was so special seeing Hakeem and Drexler get a chance to erase the nightmare that was the 83 NCState game. I was SO happy for both of them. I remember crying (yes, I'm a wuss) when they showed them high-fiving eachother after the series clincher.

Hakeem was kind of melancholy after the first one, but let it all hang out with Drexler after the 2nd one.

 

I was fortunate enough to go to game 7 in 1994. When Maxwell hit the 3 with a little over a minute, I admit I started tearing-mostly out of pure joy, but also with the weight of all the Houston sports teams' previous futility being lifted away. I have been a die-hard Rox fan since they moved from SD in the early 70's and that was the ultimate high.

1995 was awesome, but I had to vote 1994.