Shaquille O’Neal, a 4-time NBA champion, has had some of the greatest playoffs series in the game’s history. With the Lakers, he won the Finals three times in a row, reached the Finals for four consecutive years. But there is still one series that is not talked of enough. In 1995, the 7ft 1″ star overcame the great Michael Jordan and his Bulls to reach the NBA finals.
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That year’s Orlando Magic is the only team to make mincemeat of the GOAT in the postseason between his first title win in 1991 and his last one in 1998.
Beating the Bulls, who had dominated the 90s like none other, was such a big deal that Orlando ended up celebrating it like they won the championship.
But it was all for nothing, as Hakeem Olajuwon and the Rockets humiliated Orlando in the NBA Finals. O’Neal believes the loss was his fault.
During a conversation with Pro Football Hall of Famer Andre Johnson and former Pro Bowl cornerback Johnathan Joseph, the four-time NBA champion admitted that after the series win over Jordan and the Bulls, he felt an air of invincibility.
That belief was only strengthened after the Magic’s heroic 4-3 series win over the Pacers in the Conference Finals, which confirmed their berth against the Rockets in their first NBA Finals. That’s when it all came crashing down.
O’Neal, by his own confession, had gotten used to manhandling opponents and beating them down physically and mentally. However, he learned Hakeem Olajuwon wasn’t the usual opponent. Breaking him mentally turned out even harder than besting him physically.
Recalling that contest and how the Hall of Famer fed him the humble pie, the Lakers icon said,
“After we beat Michael [Jordan]… we celebrated… We had a pre-parade, I’m like, ‘It’s mine.’ That makes you lose focus. [And the Rockets] smoked us. I got embarrassed. Like Hakeem was the only guy I couldn’t break mentally. Before the game started, I talked about your mama, I bully you in your face, imma find what section your baby mama and wife in… But I could never break Hakeem. So they whooped me.”
O’Neal performed exceptionally but Olajuwon was just better
To his credit, O’Neal had an excellent series as a scorer, rebounder, playmaker, and rim protector. He filled up the stat sheet in every game and averaged 28 points, 12.5 assists, and 6.3 assists, along with 2.5 blocks. But the proud O’Neal, who took the toughest assignment of the series – guarding Olajuwon – it was a humbling experience.
The Rockets center averaged an astonishing 32.8 points, a series best. He also registered 11.5 rebounds, 5.5 assists, two steals, and two blocks. All in all, he made Shaquille O’Neal look like an amateur on defense. The result was a 4-0 series sweep and a second straight championship win for Houston.
The high of beating Jordan and the Bulls was countered by the low of becoming the first, and to date, the only #1 seed to get swept in the Finals by a team that didn’t finish first in their conference standings.
The 1975 Washington Bullets were the only other top-seeded team to lose 4-0 in the championship series. However, they were beaten by Rick Barry and the Warriors, who had the best record in the Western Conference.
O’Neal later got his revenge on Olajuwon in the 1999 playoffs, after the Lakers beat the Rockets 3-1 in the first round. However, it didn’t diminish the anger, humiliation, and pain the four-time NBA champion felt in the aftermath of the 1995 Finals.
