Whenever people talk about the 1994 championship by the Rockets, the first name mentioned is Hakeem "The Dream" Olajuwon , and rightfully so. He earned his spot as the Rockets' superstar because he was unstoppable on offense , but he would be the first to say it was a total team effort.
The Houston Rockets were more than just a one-man team. They had a good accumulation of talent on the roster and a perfect supporting cast around Olajuwon. The Dream might have been at the forefront, but he was never alone as the star player due to a helpful roster.
"We have a unique team. Guys who love one another. We were friends. The individual commitment, it's not his team, it's our team," Hakeem said in a documentary about the 1994 champions.
Hakeem was not alone on the Rockets
While Olajuwon got most of the attention due to his star power, the Rockets were a cohesive team. Everyone knew how to play their roles, as they played well off Hakeem. Vernon Maxwell was the second option, and he worked well as a perimeter scorer who could hit shots from kick-outs by The Dream and was a solid iso player.
Robert Horry and Sam Cassell were younger but played well within their roles. They had no issue playing their positions because they knew that helped maximize the rest of the team with their well-rounded scoring outside of Hakeem.
An underrated player on that roster was Carl Herrera, a power forward who rarely shot the ball but was a reliable defender with one of the best personalities on the roster. He was the perfect glue guy for the team, which resonated with the rest of the team.
One of the players on the team, Matt Bullard, spoke about how Herrera played a role for the team.
"To win a championship, you have to have a superstar or three, but you also have to have role players who fit well with your superstars," Bullard said about Carl. "Carl's play on the court in the '94 Finals was critical to our victory. The New York Knicks had a huge and nasty front line."
Houston kept working and improving en route to another title
The Rockets had to defend their championship the following season, since several teams tried to usurp them. Most people would say the pressure caught up to them because they only finished the 1994/95 regular season as the sixth seed.
Fortunately for Houston, the team caught fire during the postseason, beating all the top seeds in the Utah Jazz, Phoenix Suns, and the San Antonio Spurs to set up an NBA Finals series against the on-the-rise Orlando Magic.
The Rockets were composed due to the championship experience they gained from the previous year. They won another championship, proving that the 1994 title was not a fluke because they went through the toughest path possible to repeat as champions.
Related: "We should have been in the Finals" - Hakeem Olajuwon on the Rockets coming up short in 1993
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