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1993–94 Houston Rockets season

1993–94 Houston Rockets season
NBA Champions
Conference Champions
Division Champions
First NBA Championship
Sam Cassell's rookie season
Head coach Rudy Tomjanovich
Owner(s) Leslie Alexander
Arena The Summit (Houston)
Results
Record 58–24 (.707)
Place Division: 1st (Midwest)
Conference: 2nd (Western)
Playoff finish NBA Champions
(Defeated Knicks 4-3)

Stats @ Basketball-Reference.com
< 1992–93 1994–95 >

The 1993–94 NBA season was the Houston Rockets' 27th season in the National Basketball Association, and their 23rd season in Houston. During the offseason, the Rockets acquired Mario Elie from the Portland Trail Blazers. The Rockets went off to a great start, winning their first fifteen games to tie the 1948–49 Washington Capitols for the best unbeaten record to open a season, before the Golden State Warriors surpassed it in 2015. After losing to the Atlanta Hawks on December 3, the Rockets won the next seven games as well, falling just one victory shy of tying the 1969–70 Knicks (23–1) for the best record with one defeat in NBA history. However, the Rockets would cool off as the season progressed, at one point losing four games in a row. Still, they finished first place in the Midwest Division with a 58–24 record.

Hakeem Olajuwon won the league's Most Valuable Player award, ahead of David Robinson of the San Antonio Spurs and Scottie Pippen of the Chicago Bulls. Anchoring one of the league's best defenses, Olajuwon also won the NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award for the second consecutive year, also beating out Robinson by a narrow 23 to 22 votes. He was also selected for the 1994 NBA All-Star Game.

In the playoffs, the Rockets defeated the Portland Trail Blazers 3–1 in the first round, then defeated the Phoenix Suns 4–3 in the semifinals, and the 5th-seeded Utah Jazz 4–1 in the Western Conference Finals. In the 1994 NBA Finals, they defeated the New York Knicks in seven games, and won their first championship in franchise history. It was the Rockets' third NBA finals appearance, after 1981 and 1986. Olajuwon was the only player of the 1985–86 Rockets to still be on the 1993–94 team.


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