Back In The Day NBA

Rudy Tomjanovic Credits Clyde Drexler For Keeping Houston Rockets Afloat In 1995 Championship Seas

Shandel Richardson

Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

The 1995 Houston Rockets may have never repeated as NBA champions if not for the midseason acquisition of Cldye Drexler.

Coach Rudy Tomjanovich said the Rockets were in trouble before Drexler was acquired at the trade deadline.

"We're not breaking up this team," Tomjanovich said on an appearance on SiriusXM NBA Radio. "They deserve a chance to defend the championship but we were so bad. We had lost that fight."

After defeating the New York Knicks in the 1994 Finals, the Rockets were just a middle-of the-pack team in the Western Conference. They then traded Tracy Murray and Otis Thorpe to the Portland Trail Blazers in exchange for Drexler.

In 35 games, Drexler averaged 21.4 points, seven rebounds and 4.4 assists. He served as the perfect complement for center Hakeem Olajuwon. A decade earlier, Drexler and Olajuwon led the Houston Cougars to the NCAA title game.

They reunited to help them win a championship as teammates for the first time. It wasn't easy because the Rockets had to adjust on the fly. They were playing so badly before the trade they entered the playoffs as the No. 6 seed.

The Rockets made their way through the West before knocking off Shaquille O'Neal and the Orlando Magic in the Finals. They remain the lowest seed to win the title.

"The only reason we made is because it was Clyde and there was a relationship between him and Hakeem," Tomjanovich said. "Any other star would've had a hard time because I relied so heavily on Hakeem."

Shandel Richardson is the publisher for Back In The Day NBA. He can be reached at shandelrich@gmail.com

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Shandel Richardson
SHANDEL RICHARDSON

Shandel has covered the NBA since 2010, with previous stops at The Athletic and South Florida Sun-Sentinel.  He has covered six NBA Finals, one Super Bowl, the NCAA basketball tournament. He has also been a beat writer for the Miami Hurricanes and contributed on every major beat in South Florida since 2003, including the Miami Dolphins and Miami Marlins. He can also be read in the Sportsbook Review for gambling coverage from around the NBA. A native of Bloomington, Illinois, Shandel attended Southern Illinois University in Carbondale. He's also worked for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and Kansas City Star.  TWITTER: @ShandelRich EMAIL: shandelrich@gmail.com