This Day In Cavs History: Gund Arena Becomes Home

On Nov. 8, 1994, the Cleveland Cavaliers played at Gund Arena for the first time, hosting the defending-NBA-champion Houston Rockets.

Throughout the 2023-24 NBA season, Spencer Davies is going to turn back the clock to milestone moments and important dates in the Cleveland Cavaliers’ past with “This Day In Cavs History.” Whether they’ve been good, bad or sad, these events were significant in the franchise’s 53-year existence.

After 20 seasons of memories at the famed Richfield Coliseum, the Cavaliers relocated downtown to play at a brand-new venue in 1994: Gund Arena. 

Named after majority owner Gordon Gund, the building opened with a Billy Joel concert on Oct. 17 across from Jacobs Field, another stadium in its first year as the home of the Cleveland Indians.

The Cavs debuted a new logo and fresh color scheme at “The Gund” on Nov. 8 just a few weeks after the place opened its doors, hosting the Houston Rockets in their first home game of the regular season in a nationally-televised meeting on TNT. 

Cleveland was coming off a 115-107 road win over the Charlotte Hornets to tip off the 1994-95 campaign, so there was plenty of motivation to give the city and fans a game they’d never forget.

Cleveland’s Gund Arena, the 20,500-seat entertainment center and home of the NBA’s Cleveland Cavaliers. (Now known as Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse/formerly known as Quicken Loans Arena.) / SussmanPrejza.com

Rudy Tomjanovich and the defending NBA champions stood in the way. That Rockets team had a stacked roster. Hall-of-Fame big man Hakeem Olajuwon led the way. (Veteran multi-time All-Star Clyde “The Glide” Drexler joined the squad that season too, but didn’t play in Cleveland.) 

Otis Thorpe, Vernon Maxwell, Kenny Smith, Mario Elie and the younger versions of Robert Horry and Sam Cassell contributed a lot to the team.

But Mike Fratello and his Cavs didn’t back down from a challenge. They still had their own star in Mark Price, fan favorite John “Hot Rod” Williams and a ton of young talent on the rise while Brad Daugherty was sidelined with a back injury. 

CLEVELAND - NOVEMBER 30: Mark Price #25 of the Cleveland Cavaliers dribbles during a game played on November 30, 1994 at Gund Arena in Cleveland, Ohio :: Photo by Noren Trotman/NBAE via Getty Images

Freshly acquired Tyrone Hill was sure to make an impact, and Bobby Phills and Terrell Brandon were poised to burst even more onto the scene. Second-year forward Chris Mills was getting his opportunity to shine as an everyday starter too.

Unfortunately, even fighting until the end, the Cavs fell that night on the wrong side of a buzzer beater. With just over three seconds left on the clock in a tie game, Olajuwon sank a contested jump shot over Williams to win it for Houston, 100-98.

The Dream finished with a 21-point, 12-rebound, seven-block, six-assist night in what was a routinely dominant showing for the star big man over 46 minutes of action. Horry and Maxwell canned three triples each, and Cassell dished out nine assists.

On Cleveland’s end, Hot Rod did what he could to match, ending up with 16 points and 10 rebounds. Brandon brought a spark off the bench with 19 points, while Mills led the starters with 18. Phills had 16 points, and Price put up 12 to go along with seven dimes.

The Rockets won their second straight NBA Finals that year.

Cleveland made the playoffs, but was eliminated in the first round by the New York Knicks 3-1.

As we know, Dan Gilbert would purchase the Cavs in 2005 from Gund. The venue subsequently changed its name to Quicken Loans Arena, which lasted until 2019 before another change when the company rebranded. It has since become Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.