The 1994–95 NBA season was the Rockets' 28th season in the National Basketball Association, and 24th season in Houston. After winning their first championship, the Rockets went on to win their first nine games of the season. However, with increased competition in the West, management felt a change was needed to win another title. On February 14, 1995, the Rockets traded Otis Thorpe to the Portland Trail Blazers in exchange for All-Star guard Clyde Drexler, and three-point specialist Tracy Murray; Drexler and Hakeem Olajuwon were both teammates at the University of Houston in the early 1980s. The team also signed free agent Chucky Brown midway through the season, and later on signed 38-year old veteran Charles Jones to a 10-day contract in April, where he played in the final three games of the regular season. However, after holding a 29–17 record at the All-Star break, the Rockets played .500 basketball in the second half of the season, posting an 18–18 record on their way to finishing third in the Midwest Division with a 47–35 record. Olajuwon averaged 27.8 points, 10.8 rebounds, 3.5 assists, 1.8 steals and 3.4 blocks per game, and was selected for the 1995 NBA All-Star Game, while Drexler averaged 21.4 points, 7.0 rebounds, 4.4 assists and 1.7 steals per game in 35 games with the Rockets after the trade. Olajuwon and Drexler were both named to the All-NBA Third Team. In addition, Vernon Maxwell provided the team with 13.3 points per game, while Kenny Smith contributed 10.4 points per game, and Robert Horry averaged 10.2 points per game. Off the bench, second-year guard Sam Cassell provided with 9.5 points and 4.9 assists per game, while Mario Elie contributed 8.8 points per game, and Carl Herrera averaged 6.8 points and 4.6 rebounds per game. Olajuwon also finished in fifth place in Most Valuable Player voting, and in third place in Defensive Player of the Year voting. According to Horry, when David Robinson was given his MVP trophy before a game in the San Antonio-Houston Western Conference Finals, Olajuwon leaned over to him and snarled "That's MY trophy", leading Horry to silently say "Uh-oh" in accurate expectation of the hell Olajuwon was about to unleash on the Spurs. In the playoffs, the Rockets faced the 3rd–seeded Utah Jazz in the Western Conference First Round. The Jazz would take a 2–1 series lead, but the Rockets went on to win the series in five games. In the Western Conference Semi-finals, they faced the Phoenix Suns for the second consecutive year. After trailing 3–1, the Rockets managed to defeat the 2nd-seeded Suns in seven games to advance to the Western Conference Finals. In the all Texas Western Conference Finals, they faced the top-seeded San Antonio Spurs. Both teams lacked home court advantage in the series, only winning on the road until the Rockets won Game 6 at The Summit and advanced to the NBA Finals. In the Finals, they swept the Orlando Magic in four straight games, and won their second consecutive championship, with Olajuwon being named Finals MVP for the second straight year. As the 6th seed in the 1995 playoffs, the 1994–95 Rockets to date are the lowest seeded team in league history to win an NBA championship. Following the season, Maxwell signed as a free agent with the Philadelphia 76ers; Maxwell had a controversial season, which involved him punching a fan during a road game against the Trail Blazers on February 6, 1995, which cost him a ten-game suspension, and leaving the team during the playoffs after being replaced with Drexler as the team's starting shooting guard. Meanwhile, Murray signed with the newly expansion Toronto Raptors, Herrera signed with the San Antonio Spurs, and Croatian rookie center Žan Tabak was left unprotected in the 1995 NBA Expansion Draft, where he was selected by the Raptors.

NBA draft

Roster

Regular season

Season standings

Record vs. opponents

Game log

Regular season

Playoffs

Player stats

Regular season

Playoffs

Playoffs

West First Round

(3) Utah Jazz vs. (6) Houston Rockets: Rockets win series 3-2 Last Playoff Meeting: 1994 Western Conference Finals (Houston won 4–1)

West Conference semifinals

(2) Phoenix Suns vs. (6) Houston Rockets: Rockets win series 4-3 Last Playoff Meeting: 1994 Western Conference Semifinals (Houston won 4–3)

West Conference finals

(1) San Antonio Spurs vs. (6) Houston Rockets: Rockets win series 4-2 Last Playoff Meeting: 1981 Western Conference Semifinals (Houston won 4–3)

NBA Finals

1995 NBA Finals Roster

Head Coach: Rudy Tomjanovich Hakeem Olajuwon | Clyde Drexler | Kenny Smith | Robert Horry | Sam Cassell | Mario Elie | Carl Herrera | Vernon Maxwell | Chucky Brown | Pete Chilcutt | Tracy Murray | Tim Breaux | Žan Tabak | Charles Jones | Adrian Caldwell |

Olajuwon vs. 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: By winning his second straight NBA Finals MVP award, Hakeem Olajuwon became the sixth player to do so on multiple occasions, joining Willis Reed, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird and Michael Jordan. Olajuwon also joined Jordan as the only two players to win the award consecutively as of that time.

Series Summary

Rockets win series 4–0

Award winners

Transactions