The 1995 NBA Finals are a painful memory for Orlando Magic fans. But when you take a step back, Game One was actually an exciting game historically.
Bring up the 1995 NBA Finals to Orlando Magic fans, and it gets painful.
The nostalgia of a great season comes flooding back, but so too does the pain of missing four free throws with a chance to seal Game One, the embarrassment of getting swept in the NBA Finals and the eventual dissolution of the promise of that championship potential.
Game One is possibly the most painful and gut-wrenching game in Magic history.
For Magic fans, it is hard to see the forest for the trees. In the pantheon of NBA Finals, this was an all-time great game. A game that defined a couple legacies, cemented the Rockets and Hakeem Olajuwon as a great player and sent the young Magic reeling.
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Everyone assumed then the Magic would be back there — the Bulls were on their way back, but nobody could have predicted Michael Jordan‘s resurrection like that. Of course, that is not how history played out. The seminal moment of Game One of the 1995 NBA Finals changed the franchise’s future and Nick Anderson‘s career too (his free throw percentage after the 1995 season with the Magic was 61.9 percent and before the Finals it was 69.6 percent).
For the rest of the nation, it was a missed opportunity. But it was also the cap to a fantastic game. One that saw the Magic lose a double-digit lead and head to overtime.
Magic fans often forget the game was decided by Hakeem Olajuwon’s tip in with less than a second left.
Ian Levy of Hardwood Paroxysm picked that game as the one game he could watch forever and ever. It is the kind of game that should be memorable both for its finish and its impact on NBA history:
"Houston eked out a 120-118 overtime win. After losing this game, you could just see the air go out of Orlando and they never regained their footing. It’s fascinating how many alternate histories could be traced back to the closing minutes of this game. After the Magic secured two consecutive offensive rebounds, the Rockets were forced to foul Nick Anderson and send him to the line with just 10 seconds left in regulation. With a three-point lead, making either free throw should have been enough to seal the game for the Magic. Anderson missed both but, amazingly, got his own offensive rebound on the second miss and was fouled, earning two more opportunities to put the game away. He missed both, again, the Rockets grabbed the rebound and Kenny Smith tied the game with his seventh three-pointer–a Finals record at that point.This game sticks out for me, because of that memory of watching it live, falling out of my seat with each new twist. But it stands the test of time–two incredible teams, filled with incredible players, working at the height of their powers. I could live with that as the only basketball to watch for the rest of my life."
Yes, it is painful for Magic fans to remember. But it still should not lose its place as a great game, objectively.
As gut-wrenching as the game was, the Magic still had every opportunity to win that game and that series. The Magic lost Game Two by 11 points, Game Three by three points and the decisive Game Four by 12 points. It was actually a close series in the end.
But still a sweep.
The memories are painful for Magic fans, but the series should have an appreciation for Magic fans. Particularly that seminal Game One. It is not going anywhere, and it was an incredibly entertaining and interesting game.
Fortunately for us, NBATV was tricking viewers into watching the 1995 Christmas Day Game for Shaq Week instead of Game One of the 1995 Finals. That makes Magic fans happy.