The 1993–94 NBA season was the Houston Rockets' 27th season in the National Basketball Association, and their 23rd season in Houston. The Rockets had the 24th overall pick in the 1993 NBA draft, and selected Sam Cassell out of Florida State University. During the off-season, the team acquired Mario Elie from the Portland Trail Blazers. The Rockets went off to a great start, winning their first fifteen games of the season to tie the 1948–49 Washington Capitols for the best unbeaten record to open a season, while also posting a 14–0 record in November, before the Golden State Warriors surpassed it in 2015 and tied by the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2024. After losing to the Atlanta Hawks, 133–111 on the road on December 3, the Rockets won their 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 in January. Still, they held a 34–12 record at the All-Star break, and finished first place in the Midwest Division with a 58–24 record, a franchise record that stood until the 2017-18 team recorded their 59th win. Hakeem Olajuwon averaged 27.3 points, 11.9 rebounds, 3.6 assists, 1.6 steals and 3.7 blocks per game, and 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 named to the All-NBA First Team, NBA All-Defensive First Team, and was selected for the 1994 NBA All-Star Game. In addition, Otis Thorpe averaged 14.0 points and 10.6 rebounds per game, while Vernon Maxwell provided the team with 13.6 points, 5.1 assists and 1.6 steals per game, Kenny Smith contributed 11.6 points per game, and second-year forward Robert Horry provided with 9.9 points and 5.4 rebounds per game. Elie contributed 9.3 points per game off the bench as the team's sixth man. In the playoffs, the Rockets defeated the Portland Trail Blazers, 3–1 in the Western Conference First Round. In the Western Conference Semi-finals, the Rockets trailed 0–2 to the Phoenix Suns, but would win the series in seven games, then defeat 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 after trailing 3–2, 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. By winning the Finals MVP, Olajuwon also became the first player to win regular season MVP, Defensive Player of the Year, and Finals MVP in the same season. The Rockets also became the first team from the Midwest Division since the Milwaukee Bucks 23 years prior to win the NBA title.

Offseason

NBA draft

Roster

Regular season

Season standings

Record vs. opponents

Game log

Regular season

{{NBA game log section|Houston Rockets|April|bgcolor=#FFD700|color=#FF0000 }} {{NBA game log end|bbr_team=HOU|end_year=1994}}

Player statistics

Regular season

Playoffs

Playoffs

Game log

Interruption of Game 5 NBA Finals telecast by O. J. Simpson car chase

During Game 5 (June 17, 1994), most NBC affiliates (with the noted exception being WNBC-TV out of New York City) split the coverage of the game between NFL Hall of Famer O. J. Simpson's slow-speed freeway chase with the LAPD. At the time, Simpson had been an NFL analyst on NBC. A visibly confused and distraught Bob Costas (NBC's anchor for their NBA Finals coverage) said during the telecast from Madison Square Garden that the Simpson situation was "not just tragic but now surreal".

Award winners

NBA All-Star Game

Transactions