1994–95 Orlando Magic season

The 1994-95 season was Orlando's sixth in the NBA. After building through the draft in previous years, the Magic made themselves even stronger by signing free agent Horace Grant. Grant gave the Magic one of the most dominant starting lineups in the NBA. Shaquille O'Neal continued to dominate the NBA with 29.3 points per game. The Magic easily won the Atlantic Division with a 57-25 record. In the playoffs the Magic overwhelmed the Boston Celtics with a 124-77 victory in Game 1. The Magic would eliminate the Celtics in the Boston Garden. These matches would be the final 2 basketball games ever played at the Garden. In the second round, the Magic were matched up against the Chicago Bulls. The Bulls were on an emotional high as Michael Jordan had just returned from baseball career to play basketball. Jordan was now wearing the number 45 for the Bulls. The Magic won the first game 94-91. Tensions rose when Anfernee Hardaway indicated that Jordan was no longer the same player. The move motivated Jordan to return to number 23 and the Bulls evened the series. In Game 5, the Magic won the game 103-95. The Magic would eliminate the Bulls in Game 6 as the Magic won 108-102 to advance to the Conference Finals. In the Eastern Conference Finals, the Magic would beat the Indiana Pacers in a tough 7-game series that saw the home team win every game. In The Magic were off to their first ever NBA Finals. The Magic faced off against the defending NBA Champion Houston Rockets. Shaq would be up against Hakeem Olajuwon in a battle of All-Star Centers. Game 1 was played in Orlando and the game was lost at the free throw line. Nick Anderson missed free throws twice and the Rockets tied the game at the buzzer. The Rockets would then win Game 1 in overtime. In The Magic would not recover from their Game 1 loss as the Rockets swept the series in 4 straight.

Offseason

NBA Draft

Round	Pick	Player	Position	Nationality	School/Club Team
1	27	Brooks Thompson	Guard		Oklahoma State
2	31	Rodney Dent	Guard/Forward		Kentucky

Regular season

Season standings

Player stats

Note: GP= Games played; REB= Rebounds; AST= Assists; STL = Steals; BLK = Blocks; PTS = Points; AVG = Average

Player	GP	REB	AST	STL	BLK	PTS	AVG
Nick Anderson	76	335	314	125	22	1200	15.8
Penny Hardaway	77	336	551	130	26	1613	20.9
Shaquille O'Neal	79	901	214	73	192	2315	29.3

NBA Finals

Orlando Magic Roster

Head Coach: Brian Hill
Shaquille O'Neal | Anfernee Hardaway | Nick Anderson | Horace Grant | Dennis Scott | Donald Royal | Brian Shaw | Anthony Bowie | Jeff Turner | Geert Hammink | Anthony Avent | Darrell Armstrong | Brooks Thompson | Tree Rollins | Keith Tower |

Olajuwon vs. O'Neal

Although both centers played well, Olajuwon is generally considered to have outplayed O'Neal. Olajuwon outscored O'Neal in every game of the series and became one of the few players in NBA history to score at least 30 points in every game of an NBA Finals series:

1995 NBA Finals	Gm 1	Gm 2	Gm 3	Gm 4	Totals
Hakeem Olajuwon	31	34	31	35	32.8 ppg
Shaquille O'Neal	26	33	28	25	28.0 ppg

Series Summary

Game	Date	Home Team	Result	Road Team
Game 1	June 7	Orlando	118-120	Houston
Game 2	June 9	Orlando	106-117	Houston
Game 3	June 11	Houston	106-103	Orlando
Game 4	June 14	Houston	113-101	Orlando

Rockets win series 4-0

Awards and Honors

• Shaquille O’Neal, NBA Scoring Champion (2315 pts)
• Shaquille O’Neal, NBA Leader Points per Game (29.3)

References

• Orlando Magic on Database Basketball
• Orlando Magic on Basketball Reference