Most Dramatic NBA Finals Momentum Shifts

Tb-Cain · Jun 20, 2006

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/playoffs2006/columns/story?columnist=stein_marc&id=2492216

4. 1995 Finals: Houston Rockets 4, Orlando Magic 0
How can a Finals sweep include a dramatic turnaround?

My response: Do you remember Game 1 of the '95 Finals?

In what was presumed to be the first of many trips to the title round for O'Neal and Penny Hardaway, Orlando got there by halting Michael Jordan's comeback from baseball in Round 2 and routing Indiana by 24 points in Game 7 of the East finals. The Magic then responded to the notion that all this was happening too fast for a 23-year-old Shaq and a 22-year-old Penny by rolling up a 20-point lead on the defending champs in Game 1.

The inexperienced Magic even managed to regain the lead after blowing all of that 20-point cushion and clung to a three-point edge in the final minute. But Nick Anderson infamously missed four consecutive free throws -- two with 10.5 seconds left and two more after pulling in an offensive rebound -- to frame one of the most painful collapses in the sport's history.

That Game 1 defeat in OT, after such a promising start, uncorked a long, vicious spiral for the Magic that some Orlando observers believe still grips the franchise.

The heart-of-a-champion Rockets steamrolled the crushed kiddies in the next three games. The midseason reunion of Phi Slamma Jamma's Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler and the support of stellar role players (Robert Horry, Sam Cassell, Mario Elie and Kenny Smith) enabled Houston to emerge as the lowest-seeded champion ever (No. 6 in the West) and the first titlist to beat four 50-win teams in the playoffs.

Yet it was merely the beginning of the suffering for the Magic. They could never again count on a broken Anderson and held onto Shaq for just one more season before he defected to the Lakers in free agency. The Magic's 10 seasons of mediocrity since -- marked by five first-round playoff exits, another messy parting with a franchise player (Tracy McGrady) and Grant Hill's years of injury misfortune -- have been referred to as the Curse of the Shaqino.
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I didn't see this posted yet - nice mention of the Rockets' 1995 run.

OddsOn · Jun 20, 2006

Good find....aahhhh the memories

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Most Dramatic NBA Finals Momentum Shifts

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