Today marks 30 years since Hakeem Olajuwon led the Houston Rockets to first place

The Houston Rockets won their first championship on June 22, 1994.

In Game 7 of the NBA Finals, Hakeem Olajuwon had 25 points, 10 rebounds, seven assists and three blocks to lead the Rockets to a 90-84 victory over the New York Knicks. He was named Finals MVP.

The Rockets dropped the “Choke City” label before eventually becoming “Clutch City”. They became the first team to win a title after the brief end of the Michael Jordan era. After leading the Chicago Bulls to three consecutive championships, Jordan retired for the first time to play minor league baseball.

Another footnote to the series was the OJ Simpson factor. A bizarre scene unfolded when Game 5 was interrupted by the Simpsons and the police chasing down a Los Angeles freeway. At one point, Rockets-Knicks action appeared on a smaller portion of TV screens while the rest of the world watched Simpson slowly walk away from the cops. There were rumors that Simpson was considering suicide due to the recent murders of his ex-wife, Nicole, and Ronald Goldman.

Things eventually got back to basketball.

The Rockets forced a Game 7 after Olajuwon’s 30-point effort in Game 6. Olajuwon dominated the deciding game, but had some help from guard John Starks.

Starks, the Knicks’ second-leading scorer behind Patrick Ewing, shot 2 of 18 from the field in one of the least memorable performances in Finals history. He was also 0 of 8 from the 3-point line.

The Rockets also won the title the following season. They are just one of 13 teams to win back-to-back championships.

Scott Salomon is a Back to the Day NBA contributor and can be reached at [email protected].