Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, June 23, 1994 TAG: 9406280021
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Knight-Ridder/Tribune
DATELINE: HOUSTON LENGTH: Medium
After years of suffering only big-game defeats, Houston blasted off into delirium Wednesday night when the Rockets defeated the New York Knicks 90-84 to win the 1994 NBA championship, four games to three.
It not only was the first title in the 26-year history of the franchise, but the first major pro sports championship for Houston.
``The Jinx,'' as they called it here, fell to ``The Dream,'' namely Hakeem Olajuwon, the first foreign-born NBA Finals Most Valuable Player ever.
Olajuwon had 25 points to lead all scorers and appropriately made the biggest plays down the stretch for the team he has led for 10 seasons.
New York led only briefly in the first half, but the Houston lead never grew larger seven points until the fourth quarter, the start of which belonged to uncanny Houston rookie Sam Cassell.
The former Florida State guard scored the first six Houston points and a three-point Rockets lead shot first to 69-62, and after two more minutes and another steely Cassell jumper 74-66 with about eight minutes to play.
New York quickly closed to 74-71 before two missed 3-pointers by John Starks resulted in two baskets by Olajuwon and a 78-71 Houston lead.
That held until Starks somehow put back a rebound in traffic with 3 minutes, 25 seconds to play. Next, Charles Oakley drew Olajuwon's fifth foul on an offensive rebound and hit two free throws to pull the Knicks to 78-75 with 2:51 left - only a 3-pointer away.
Then, Olajuwon worked his magic to all but seal it for Houston. He hit a pressure jump hook over Patrick Ewing to return the lead to five points, 80-75. After Ewing missed a short running jumper, Olajuwon threw a last-moment cross-court kick-out pass to Maxwell, who nailed a 3-pointer that brought down the house.
It was 83-75, with 1:48 to play, and the Rockets were sailing for the moon.
Thus ended the lowest-scoring NBA Finals in almost 40 years. The Rockets won while scoring 85.5 points per game.
Neither the Rockets nor Knicks surpassed 100 points in a game during the series. That had not happened before in 67 playoff series that reached seven games, including 15 Finals. And not since 1966 has neither team scored 100 points in a Game 7.
The Rockets, who had the home-court advantage because of a better regular-season record than New York, also became the first champions from the Western Conference since the 1988 Los Angeles Lakers.
Keywords:
BASEBALL
by CNB