why did Orlando Magic get blown out by the Houston Rockets in '95 ??

[Mantis Toboggan M.D.]

Yah, dude is right... even Shaq admitted that he was showing Dream too much respect. Said it was the one player whose head he couldn't get in. Would be telling Shaq good job when he scored, but that he should've spun a different way.

God tier by the dream

It was just a young team who had all the physical talent, but not the mental strength. People blow this shyt way out of proportion and never put it in historical context because the Magic got there ahead of schedule. This shyt was par for the course "Growing Pains" the Houston led by Ralph Sampson and Hakeem, Dallas led by Mark Aguirre and Rolando Blackmon, Chicago led by MJ and Pippen, Portland led by Drexler, Buck Williams and Terry Porter, The Seattle Sonics Shawn Kemp, Gary Payton. They did not have the mental toughness to compete. It's the same reason the Cavs got blasted by the Spurs and the Thunder got blasted by the Heat, and the Heat blasted by the Mavs. Physically talented but mentally weak.

I would agree on the 80's and 90's teams. That cavaliers team wasn't "not ready" so much as they just had one player they could rely on offensively and the 2014 heat were pretty clearly running on fumes. They went around .500 after he all star break. You're kinda right against Dallas, but we were also a bad matchup too. Counting the regular season they went 6-2 against Miami with 4 double digit wins. We didn't match up well with them. Oklahoma City was a great example of a team that should have had next with more experience, but cheap ass ownership/the curse of the sonics/the based god curse ruined all that.

 

[Saiyajin]

everyone who didnt state that Hakeem Olajuwon was the reason, is getting negged when the system comes back on

 

[The_Third_Man]

Game 1 and 3 were very exciting games. Game 2 and 4 weren't close.

Hakeem was great (though his defense and effeciency weren't as good as usual) but his passing out of the post to the shooters was the deciding factor in the finals. Drexler (who had nice all-round games) Mario ellie, Kenny Smith (game 1 hero), Cassel, amd Horry ( who had people thinking he was going to be a big star) were all huge.

On the other hand, Penny and Shaq were great, matter of fact they took their game to another level in the finals. But the support cast of Dennis Scott, Kenny "the brick" Anderson, and Shaw were terrible. Horace Grant was ok but couldn't keep up with the quickness and atheletism of Robbert Horry.

The weird thing Kenny Anderson missed free throws didn't only changed the outcome of game 1, it changed him as a player. He started regressing, at 27, right after that year. It messed him up mentally to the point that he shot 40% from the FREE THROW LINE AS A SHOOTING GUARD 2 years after!!

 

[DlAMONDZ]

They were mentally soft

 

[AFRAM GLORY]

Nick will always be the fall guy for that failed championship run. Enough that shaq, penny, and scott will get away with playing passive against dream and the rockets damn near the entire series. Houston had more heart, were mentally tougher and played grinding small ball. Nick anderson was balling til he checked out mentally.

 

[The American]

In both the 30 for 30 and the oral history Grantland did, they talk about acting like the ECF was the finals and how Horace was warning them the shyt was far from over. Nick Anderson bought a Ferrari or some shyt, Shaq, D Scott and Brian Shaw recorded a song about winning the championship and they were kicking it.

In the 30 for 30, they talked about thinking the win was a lock, they beat MJ, won in the ECF and had swept the Rockets in the regular season.

Ok, but when tipoff came, they gave 100% on the court. But Houston was better.

 

[Damnshow]

its simple, young teams can't perform on their level under the biggest pressure.

none of these young squads won championships so quick. only horace had legit playoff experience in orlando. It took MJ some years, it took Shaq and Kobe. Duncan won pretty fast but his teammates had a lot of experience. OKC is a young team, they had playoff experience and yet they still choked. Shiet. This is serious thing you gotta have a few legit veterans if you want to win it all.

 

[premier58]

Momentum is everything. They lost it all in Game 1. Shaq balled out in that series..stop saying he didnt. He avg 28 and 12 on insane percentages...He wasnt Ewing'ed or Robinson'ed...

 

[The_Third_Man]

Nick will always be the fall guy for that failed championship run. Enough that shaq, penny, and scott will get away with playing passive against dream and the rockets damn near the entire series. Houston had more heart, were mentally tougher and played grinding small ball. Nick anderson was balling til he checked out mentally.

Shaq and Penny played very well in the finals. Scott was terrible though.

 

[Danie84]

Cuz Kazaam and em wasn't ready for that Real African lesson

 

[Damnshow]

Cuz Kazaam and em wasn't ready for that Real African lesson

yeah, he couldnt get under his skin, he even stated that in interview, that ass whooping that hakeem gave to shaq helped him A LOT.

00:30

 

[Hiphoplives4eva]

The only answer to this thread of confusion is Hakeem Olajuwon

 

[The_Third_Man]

Hakeem didn't totally dominate Shaq like some of you trying to say. In some ways Shaq actually performed better. Hakeem just took more shots:

Hakeem 33 ppg on 48% 11.5 rpg 5.5 apg 2 bpg
Shaq 28 ppg on 60% 12.5 rpg 6.5 apg 2.5 bpg

So Hakeem wasn't the only reason why the Rockets won.

 

[MJ Truth]

They were blowing Houston out that first game, thought shyt was gonna be easy, but Houston came back and took their souls. After Houston came back in Game 1, Orlando never had a chance.

It really just came down to a young team playing against the defending champions with a world of experience able to handle adverse situations. The Magic didn't really have anybody to calm them down; only Horace Grant had been there before and it's not like he was the leader of those Bulls teams. The Magic thought they'd be back every season after that, but then Chicago got great again.

Experience tends to win you championships more than just pure talent usually, and that's what happened here.

 

[Fresh]

I remember in school I thought the 95 Finals would go at least 6 or 7 either way

Then Houston SWEEPS these niccas

I was like