Houston Rockets
On this Day in 1995 the Houston Rockets finished their sweep of the Orlando Magic to claim their 2nd straight NBA title. As the 6th seed, in a stacked Western Conference, the Rockets became the lowest seeded team to ever win a championship. They still hold that distinction to this day.
Did you know Vernon Maxwell is one of just 9 NBA players to score 30 or more points in a single quarter? ‘Mad Max’ exploded for 30 of his 51 points in the 4th quarter during a Houston Rockets 103-97 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers back in January of 1991. I never knew this but, Vernon is the all-time leading scorer in Florida Gators History, and led the 1987 squad to their 1st ever NCAA Tournament. Happy Belated B-DAY!
Flashback - March 29, 1990- Hakeem Olajuwon records the 3rd quadruple double in NBA history during a Houston Rockets 120-94 win over the Milwaukee Bucks. Hakeem The Dream’s stat line that night went like this: 18 points, 16 rebounds, 11 blocks, and 10 assists.
The favorite card that I have from my childhood collecting days is a 1986-87 Fleer (#82) Hakeem (Akeem) Olajuwon rookie card. I have such a rad memory of getting it too. I was at the local sports card shop back in the early 90’s when I noticed they had constructed this haphazard pyramid of card boxes with random #’s taped on them. Apparently, there were all these various valuable cards distributed throughout the grab boxes. I gambled my allowance on box #10. Halfway through I pulled out Akeem, and remember being so stoked. The old guy behind the counter even pulled out a screw down card case for me to put it in.
It’s current location is unknown. Last seen in my Mom’s garage.
With a 133-111 victory on December 3rd, 1993 the Atlanta Hawks dealt the Houston Rockets their first loss of the season after a 15-0 start. Atlanta went on to have one of their best seasons in franchise history finishing in 1st place in the East with a 57-25 record but they eventually would lose to the Indiana Pacers in the Conference Finals.
Flashback to June 14th, 1995 where the Houston Rockets finished the sweep of the Orlando Magic in the NBA Finals. It was Houston’s second championship in a row, and it was especially cool because they became the first 6th seeded team to go all the way. Hakeem was his dominant self throughout the playoffs, but it was the Rockets supporting cast to came up big time & time again. Read all about the Rockets run through the playoffs in Blaze # 7. This was also unfortunately the last season they wore these uniforms before switching over to the cartoon rocket uniforms of the late 90’s.
