http://www.nba.com/rockets/history/lookingback_95finals.html
AS THE 1995 PLAYOFFS BEGAN, no one remembered that the Rockets were the defending NBA champions. League analysts picked Utah, San Antonio to represent the Western Conference in the NBA Finals because they didn't recall what Houston had accomplished the year before.
The Rockets remembered 1994, however.
They remembered overcoming an 0-2 deficit to beat the Phoenix Suns in seven games and winning two straight elimination games against the New York Knicks to win the 1994 NBA title. Even if no one else recalled the heart they showed in winning the franchise's first NBA championship, they did.
The 1995 Houston Rockets decided to jog a few memories with their play in the postseason.
The Rockets return trip to the NBA Finals got off to a rocky start as they fell behind the Utah Jazz 2-1 in the opening round of the playoffs.
Phoenix took a 3-1 lead over Houston after blowing them out in Games One and Two and then erasing a 15-point lead to steal Game Four 114-110. Only four teams had ever come back from a 3-1 deficit to win a series, the last being the 1981 Boston Celtics.
"It won't happen," Phoenix forward A.C. Green said after being asked if the Suns could blow a 3-1 lead. "That's the way I look at it. I'm sure there are people who will come up with some kind of scenario where it could happen. But it's not going to happen."
Then-Suns forward Charles Barkley said he was tired of hearing about how well the Rockets play when faced with elimination.
"I'm sick of hearing them talking about how well they're going to play with their back against the wall," Barkley said. "They're always down in the series, and that's all they ever say. I don't think any team in the world can beat us three straight games when two of them are in Phoenix."
Phoenix guard Kevin Johnson wasn't quite ready to write the Rockets off, though.
"The heart of a champion doesn't die easily," Johnson said. "In fact, it doesn't die at all. You've got to find a way to snuff it out."
Before the start of Game Two, Spurs' center David Robinson was recognized as the MVP of the NBA. Olajuwon, who had won the award the year before, finished fifth in the balloting. "They gave David his award on the floor right before the game started," Rockets television play-by-play announcer Bill Worrell said. "When he got the trophy, he said it was such an honor to receive an award that so many other great centers had won. He didn't name Hakeem. I always thought that was David's biggest mistake in the series."
