- It's June 7th, 1995.
Game 1 of the NBA Finals at The O-Rena in Orlando, Florida.
The Magic and Rockets are tied at 118,
with 5 1/2 seconds left in overtime.
Houston is inbounding at half-court.
This game obviously won't decide the championship,
but Game 1 is important for setting a tone for a series.
Plus, there's been a lot of build-up to this moment.
So, let's rewind.
(ethereal music)
The Magic, here, are trying desperately to keep hold
of home court advantage, an advantage they got
from their 57-win season, which earned them
the number one seed in the Eastern Conference.
But just getting to this moment required
a fat line of pixie dust.
The NBA expansion in 1987
was supposed to feature three new teams:
the Charlotte Hornets,
the Minnesota Timberwolves,
and one team in Florida, the Miami Heat.
However, Jim Hewitt and former 76ers GM Pat Williams
tried to perform a little bit of magic
and convince the League that Orlando
was a perfect spot for a new franchise.
Those Disney World workers need something to cheer for.
They were successful.
The NBA decided: Yes, Florida does deserve
two NBA franchises.
In 1989, the newly-minted Orlando Magic
kicked off their inaugural season
in the freshly constructed Orlando Arena
or, as it was affectionately called, The O-Rena.
They were comprised mostly of scraps
left over from other teams,
but they came out of the gates on fire,
tying an expansion team record
by winning seven of their first 14 games.
But the magic didn't last long,
as Orlando would finish the season
with the second worst record in the NBA at 18 and 64.
And, no, the Magic puns will not stop
because it's the only logical explanation
for what was to come for this team.
That, or luck.
It could be luck.
The Magic went from an 18-win team to a 57-win
one seed in the Finals over the course of six seasons,
the second fastest Finals appearance by an expansion team
behind Kareem Abdul Jabbar's Bucks in 1971.
And it is almost entirely because of these two guys:
Shaquille O'Neal and Anfernee "Penny" Hardaway.
After finishing with the second-worst record
in the NBA again, this time in the '91-'92 season,
the Magic won the Draft Lottery.
With the number one overall pick in the 1992 NBA Draft,
the Orlando Magic selected LSU big boy Shaquille O'Neal.
Shaq helped improve the Magic's record
by an astonishing 20 games.
He became the first rookie to start in the All-Star Game
since Michael Jordan in '85,
and was named Rookie of the Year.
But Orlando missed the Playoffs by virtue of a tiebreaker
with Indiana for the 8th seed,
and thus received the lowest possible odds
for the Number 1 Pick in the 1993 Draft.
With one ping pong ball out of 66, the Magic defied all odds
and again won the number 1 overall pick.
With that pick, the Orlando Magic selected Chris Webber
who they then, in turn, traded for the draft rights to
Penny Hardaway and three future first round picks.
Hardaway was the ying to Shaq's yang,
and in 1995, both were named starters in the All-Star Game.
Together they led their team
on a dream run to the NBA Finals.
But there's another key draft pick
on the floor for the Magic, albeit a less recognizable one.
Nick Anderson was the first player
ever drafted by the franchise, taken 11th overall
in the 1989 Draft out of Illinois.
By the '91-'92 season, he had established himself
as the Magic's number one scorer.
The additions of Shaq and Hardaway
caused him to take a back seat,
but he still finished the '95 regular season
third in points-per-game behind the two all-stars
as the team headed to the postseason
with championship aspirations.
Anderson played a big role in their playoff push as well,
including Game 1 of the Eastern Semifinals
against the Bulls.
In March of this year, Michael Jordan announced his return
to the sport following a brief baseball hiatus.
He had been away for a year and a half,
but still helped the Bulls finish the season strong
going 13 and four, with Michael now donning number 45.
But in the final seconds of the opening game
of the semifinal round, with the Bulls up one,
and with possession of the ball,
Anderson stripped Jordan, which led to a game-winning dunk
by teammate, and former Bull, Horace Grant.
After the game, Anderson was quoted saying:
"He didn't look like the old Michael Jordan,
"number 45 doesn't explode like number 23 used to."
In Game 2, Jordan went back to number 23
and torched the Magic for 38 points
as the Bulls tied the series.
But the Magic would close them out in six games
before knocking out the Pacers in a tense seven-game series.
Now, in Game 1 of the Finals, the Magic needed someone
to step up with their big man on the bench
with early foul trouble.
Enter Nick Anderson.
Anderson went off for 15 points in the first half,
including three-for-five from deep.
The Magic's lead ballooned to 20 points
before finishing the half up 61-50.
The first half was all Orlando,
but, as you can see,
the game doesn't get decided in regulation.
The Rockets are defending champions
and winners of their last five road playoff games,
one shy of the record set by the Bulls.
They are not a team
that's going to be pushed around very long,
not with their own ying and yang, big man and guard tandem,
Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler.
Olajuwon and Drexler were both members
of the same fraternity at the University of Houston,
Phi Slama Jama, whose meetings were hosted above the rim
and all hazing was done to opposing players.
The two took the University of Houston
to the National Championship in 1983
where they fell historically to the NC State Wolfpack
on a last-second dunk.
- [Announcer] From long ways, they did it!
They won it!
- Olajuwon would get one more shot
at a NCAA title the following year,
this time without Drexler.
But Houston again fell short,
this time at the hands of Patrick Ewing
and the Georgetown Hoyas.
Olajuwon then declared for the 1984 NBA Draft
with hopes of being drafted by Houston
who would win the first pick
through a coin toss against Portland.
His hopes came to fruition,
and he was selected first overall in a draft featuring
Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley, and John Stockton.
He joined a Houston team
featuring fellow big man Ralph Sampson,
creating a duo dubbed the Twin Towers.
Had the coin gone the other way,
Olajuwon could've ended up back with Drexler in Portland.
But with the second pick,
the Trailblazers selected Sam Bowie.
So it worked out for all parties involved.
In 1986, Olajuwon's second season,
the Rockets made their franchese's second
NBA Finals appearance,
but fell to the Celtics in six games.
Despite the loss, the future was bright
for a young Rockets team, or so it was thought.
The Rockets followed up their trip to the Finals
with a Western Semifinals loss in 1987,
the last Playoff run to feature Houston's Twin Towers.
Halfway through the '87-'88 season, Sampson was traded,
and the once-bright Rockets future got a little dimmer.
The Rockets went five straight seasons
without making it past the first round of the Playoffs,
including missing the Playoffs altogether in 1992.
The failures of the '91-'92 season
brought on a coaching change,
and assistant Rudy Tomjanovich took over for Don Chaney.
In his first full year as head coach,
the Rockets improved their record by 13 games,
won their first Playoff Series in six years,
and then suffered a crushing overtime defeat
in Game 7 of the Western Semifinals
against the SuperSonics.
The following year, Michael Jordan announced his retirement.
The championship was officially up for grabs
as Jordan's Bulls had had a stranglehold on the League.
The Rockets wasted no time chasing their championship dreams
and came out of the gates 15 and O
to start the '93-'94 season
and finished with a franchise record 58 wins.
The path to the Finals went through the Suns and Jazz,
both featuring fellow 1984 Draft picks,
and neither being able to stop Hakeem and the Rockets.
This set up a championship match-up against the Knicks,
led by the man who beat Hakeem
in the NCAA Championship, Patrick Ewing.
After falling behind three-games-to-two,
the Rockets clawed back, winning the last two games,
to take the Series in seven.
Hakeem Olajuwon had won the battle of the big men,
outscoring Ewing in every game,
and leading the Houston Rockets
to their first championship win in franchise history.
As defending champs,
the Rockets struggled early in the '94-'95 season,
which pushed the front office to make a move.
They decided to send
former all-star power forward Otis Thorpe
to Portland in exchange for
Olajuwon's Phi Slama Jama co-star Clyde Drexler.
The two led the Rockets into the Playoffs
as a lowly 6th seed and the path ahead this time
went through the three top seeds in the west.
Down two games to one in the first round against the Jazz,
Houston won back-to-back games
with their season on the line.
In Game 7 of the Western Semifinals against Phoenix,
Houston became the fifth team in NBA history
to come back from a three-one deficit,
following Mario Elie's game-winning three-pointer.
- [Announcer] Elie outta the corner for three, hit it!
- After facing five elimination games
in the first two rounds,
the Rockets defeated the one seeded Spurs in six,
and set up a chance to become the first 6th seed
to win a championship in NBA history.
It was another battle of the big men,
as Hakeem faced off against the 23-year-old Shaquille O'Neal
and the red-hot, top-seeded Orlando Magic.
And despite an onslaught by the Magic in the first half,
here were are:
tied with a few ticks left on the clock in overtime.
One would think the Rockets' comeback
was led by their big man under the basket.
But Shaq and Hakeem
canceled each other out for the most part.
Olajuwon is sitting at 29 points to Shaq's 26,
four blocks to Shaq's three.
O'Neal, however, is devouring the glass with 16 rebounds
to Olajuwon's five.
But as these two behemoths battle under the hoop,
this game, this comeback, this tie score
with 5 1/2 seconds left on the clock,
came from beyond the arc
as well as some good ol' fashioned choking,
but we'll get to that in a little bit.
The Rockets may have been down 20 in the second,
but they finished the quarter strong.
Then, in the third, they outscored the Magic 37 to 19.
Orlando went one-for-eight from deep,
while Houston's Kenny Smith hit five himself in a quarter.
Smith, whose freshman year at UNC
was alongside Michael Jordan,
was drafted sixth overall in the 1987 NBA Draft
by the Sacramento Kings.
He made the 1988 All-Rookie First Team,
but his time with the Kings was short-lived
as they traded him to Atlanta in 1990
who, in turn, traded him to Houston
at the end of the season.
He was an instant help to the Rockets
as they won a then franchise record 52 games
in his first year with the team.
He finished that '90-'91 season 17th in MVP voting,
one spot ahead of teammate Hakeem Olajuwon
who had been limited to 56 games due to an eye injury.
Smith began to lose playing time to rookie Sam Cassell
in the '93-'94 championship season,
but remained an integral part of the team,
especially here in Game 1.
But with three minutes left in regulation,
the battle moved from the three-point line into the paint.
Shaq and Hakeem battled for boards and traded post moves,
until this move gone wrong gave the ball back to Orlando
with under a minute to go and a three-point lead
in favor of the Magic.
With the shot clock winding down,
Hardaway drove to the basket
and straight into last year's
Defensive Player of the Year Hakeem Olajuwon.
But his miss was gathered by Horace Grant
and kicked out to Brian Shaw,
whose 3-point attempt was no good.
But the Magic again came up with an offensive rebound,
this time in the hands of Penny Hardaway.
With 20 seconds left, the Rockets had no choice but to foul.
With 10 and a half ticks left, the Rockets sent
Nick Anderson to the line.
The first ever draft pick of the franchise,
a 70-percent free throw shooter,
now just needed to hit one free throw
to put the game out of reach
and put the Magic one step closer
to the franchise's first championship.
His first bounced off the front of the rim,
but that's okay, he had another.
His second again came up short,
but, by the grace of the basketball gods,
Anderson got his own rebound and was fouled immediately.
With seven seconds left, Anderson was given a second chance.
With two more chances at the line coming,
Anderson just needed to hit one of four free throws.
The first one clinked off the rim again,
but, this time, the back of the rim.
The Magic had the lowest free throw percentage
in the regular season,
but that was mostly due to Shaq's ineptitude at the line.
Anderson, a generally dependable free throw shooter,
smiled at the basket and let another one fly.
- [Announcer] And he misses four straight,
the Rockets take a time out
with 5 6/10 seconds remaining
- Oh man, that's gonna stick with him.
With five seconds remaining, down by three,
the Rockets put the ball in the hot hands of Kenny Smith.
- [Announcer] Been on fire, it hits!
He's tied the game!
And that is an NBA Finals record for Kenny Smith!
- His NBA Finals record seventh three-pointer of the game
sends it to overtime.
The Magic entered overtime
in possession of a seven-and-three
regular season overtime record.
They were used to succeeding in this situation,
and they had home court fans by their side.
However, they did not have history on their side
as the last five Finals overtime games
went in favor of the visiting team.
And Houston is riding a five-game-road-playoff win streak.
Orlando struck first with a tip-in by Grant,
but the Rockets responded from deep,
this time by Robert Horry.
- Horry, for three. Yes!
- Horry was drafted 11th overall by the Rockets in 1992.
He played an important role in Houston's '94 Championship,
but almost wasn't part of the team at all.
In February of 1994, the Rockets agreed to a deal
that would send Horry as part of a package to the Pistons
in exchange for Sean Elliott.
Elliott then failed the required physical
and the trade was voided.
Horry went on to average a team-high in assists,
to go along with 10 points per game
in the '94 Finals win against the Knicks.
Then, in this year's Western Conference Finals,
Horry hit a game winner in Game 1 against the Spurs,
eventually helping them take the series in six,
which brought them here to the Finals.
Horry followed up his three on the next possession
with a little bit of deja vu,
drilling another from the same spot on the floor
with the game tied.
With under a minute to go,
Rockets still clinging to a three-point lead,
Drexler went up against Shaq
only to get turned away at the rim.
The Magic had time, there was no reason to rush,
but Shaq didn't get the memo.
And in a moment of foolishness,
threw a lazy pass
right into the outstretched arms of Robert Horry.
The Rockets didn't score on this possession,
but they were able to suck the blood of the game clock,
giving the ball back to the Magic
with now only 18 seconds remaining.
The Magic called time with eight seconds left on the clock
and drew up a play to get Hardaway the ball
behind the arc.
The Rockets, keen on the plan, smothered Hardaway
and forced Dennis Scott to take another time out.
The second time around they went to Shaq
at the top of the key who immediately gave it back to Scott.
- [Announcer] Three in this powerful game!
- Scott ties the game and the Rockets call time out,
which brings us here.
Tie game.
5 1/2 seconds left in overtime.
Hakeem Olajuwon, Clyde Drexler, and the Houston Rockets
looking to tie an NBA record of
six consecutive road playoff wins,
and get a leg-up
in their pursuit of back-to-back championships.
A young Orlando Magic,
featuring the electric duo of Shaq and Penny Hardaway,
is aboard a carnival-like hype train,
and trying to claw back from a second half collapse.
They're hoping to keep hold of the home court advantage
they worked all season to have,
and avoid a demoralizing Game 1 loss
in front of their home fans.
Welcome to a moment in history.
- [Announcer] Drexler puts the move on Anderson.
Finger roll, the tip, Olajuwan!
The Rockets lead, 3/10 of a second!