At the end of the 1994-1995 season, Jordan's return shocked the entire basketball world, and the once unstoppable overlord is back! This will undoubtedly add fuel to the matchup that has already formed a pattern of four centre-forwards – Olajuwon, David Robinson, Patrick Ewing and Shaquille O'Neal (some count Mutombo as the fifth centre-forward).

That year's Bulls, the first 65 games, 34-31, will shoot more than half, but in the 17 games of Jordan's return, the record is 13-4, and finally the Bulls ranked fifth in the East with 47-35 and entered the playoffs.

47-35, coincidentally this is also the Rockets' record this season, but they can only reach the playoffs as sixth in the sought-after West, the biggest difference between this Rockets and last year is a new player, he is a teammate of Olajuwon in college, once played side by side with the NCAA Finals, and later was also selected as one of the league's top 50 superstars, he is Cred Drexler, nicknamed "The Glider", but the team also paid Otis Thorpe, who has been performing well before.

The season for the Rockets has not started well, Drexler is averaging 21.5 points and 4.4 assists per game as the main guard, shooting 50% from the field and 35% from three-point range, it is clear that he can score himself, but he is not good enough to help his teammates score, Olajuwon is stuck with injuries, missed ten games, averaged 27.8 points and 10.8 rebounds per game, but these are not the main reasons, the main reason for the team's poor record is the interior.

After Thorpe left, the team couldn't find a decent helper to help Olajuwon, and the Rockets used a lot of people to partner Olajuwon at the No. 4 or No. 5 position, such as Pierre Chilkart, who played 17 starts. The season stats are 5.3 points and 4.7 rebounds per game, and Mario Aley, who played 13 starts, averaging 8.8 points and 2.4 rebounds per game, and Chuggie Brown, who played 14 starts, averaging 6.1 points and 4.6 rebounds per game, and Karl Herrera, who played 26 games and averaged 6.8 points and 4.6 rebounds per game, is obviously not as good as Thorpe, who has left, both in terms of statistics and the help they have provided to Olajuwon on the court, and this problem has not been completely solved until the end of the Rockets season.

The Rockets' first opponent in the playoffs is the Utah Jazz, Carl Malone seized the weakness of the Rockets and exploded, averaging 30.2 points and 13.2 rebounds per game but could not lead the team to victory, just like last year, the combination of Utah and Utah is powerful, but the contribution of others is very limited, by the way, Olajuwon averaged 35 points and 8.6 rebounds per game in this series, 4 assists and 2.6 blocks, and shot 57.5% from the field, which is not inferior to Malone. After the first three games, the Rockets fell behind 1-2 (the first-round promotion rule of the playoffs at that time was a best-of-five system). In the third game, the "glider" shot 18 times, hit 12 shots, and scored 41 points with 9 rebounds and 6 assists, completely beating Hornacek, who only scored 11 points in the whole game, and "Big Dream" hit 14 goals in 22 shots and scored 40 points, "Double 40" helped the team win 123:106, the key fifth game is completely the Rockets and Utah Sanjie, Olajuwon scored 33 points, Drexler scored 31 points, and the two of them scored 67% of the team's total score! Jazz Malone scored 39 points, Hornacek 19 points, and Stockton scored only 12 points on 4-of-14 shooting, and these three accounted for 72% of the team's total scores! In the end, it was the Rockets who won the game, 95-91.

It is worth mentioning that the fifth-seeded Bulls in the East swept the fourth-seeded Hornets with a score of 4:0 above the Bulls, although the Hornets' two major goalkeepers, Alonzo Mourning and Larry Johnson, both contributed 20+ per game, and the father of the current student Stephen Curry, Dale Curry also played well in this series, averaging 12.8 points per game and shooting 42.8% from three-point range (it can be seen that Stephen Curry's metamorphosis is not unreasonable, with good genes, It is estimated that Curry Jr. will shoot when he is in the womb) but they still lost, and the reason is because of one person - Michael Jordan, despite his tepid performance in the last 17 games of this season, Jordan broke out wildly in the playoffs and returned to his true colors again, averaging 32.3 points, 6.5 rebounds, 5.8 assists, and 2 steals per game, shooting 50% from the field and 47.1% from three-point range!

The Rockets' opponent in the second round is the old-faced Suns, the Suns led by Duke Charles, in the first three games of the series, the Rockets still had a bad start, falling behind with a score of 1:2, Kevin Johnson's shooting is as accurate as wearing a scope, with a shooting rate of more than 60% and a three-point shooting rate of 100%! In the crucial fourth game, the Rockets started smoothly, leading by 4 points in the first quarter and 6 points in the second quarter, but in the second half, the situation changed abruptly, the Suns scored 37 points in the third quarter, while the Rockets only scored 23 points, instantly trailing by 4 points, and the Rockets were unable to catch up in the fourth quarter, and finally lost the game, falling behind 1:3.

In the history of the NBA, there are only a handful of teams that can come back from a 3-1 deficit in the playoffs, and this Rockets has become the fifth team to create miracles, Barkley said after the Suns were overturned by the Rockets in 0-2 and 1-3 for two consecutive years, "The Rockets are like a Texas cockroach, you step on it, you hear a click, you think it's dead." But as soon as you lift your foot, you see it crawling away as if nothing happened! Barkley's words kicked off the Rockets' Texas powerhouse spirit, and it reached its peak in the 2008 playoffs!

Every next game is related to the survival of the team, at such a critical moment, the team came with bad news, Drexray was very sick with the flu, everyone thought he would not play, but half an hour before the game, the "glider" still appeared in the team's locker room, so the Rockets were demoralized, the fifth game, there were 90 seconds left before the end of the game in regular time, the Suns led by 1 point, Barkley made free throws, but he really didn't have a championship life, and only hit one of the two free throws at the critical moment, Then Olajuwon hit a hook shot in the restricted area, and the game went into overtime, in which the Rockets scored 11 points in one go, while the Suns only scored five points, and the Rockets pulled one back 2:3.

In the sixth game, the first three quarters of the Rockets and the Suns fought 87:84 was inseparable, and in the fourth quarter of the game, the Rockets played a wave of 29:19 attacks, and a wave took away the victory of the game, Olajuwon shot 13 of 22, scored 30 points, 8 rebounds, 10 assists, 2 steals and 5 blocks, while Barkley shot 12 of 22 and scored 34 points, 14 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals and 1 block.

After seven big battles again, but Barkley and the Suns, who were eliminated last season, held back their anger this time, and beat the Rockets 26:13 in the first quarter, leading by 13 points! The Suns' advantage in the first half was extended to 15 points at most, but in the end, the Suns trailed by 10 points at 51:41 at the end of the first half. However, the head coach of the Suns, Paul Westphal, did not give more support to Barkley, who played with an injury, and he arranged a lot of tactics played by Kevin Johnson alone in the game, and Johnson, who got enough right to fire, played well enough, and swept 46 points on 12-of-26 shooting! But in the end, he failed to hold on to the end, halfway through the third quarter, Olajuwon ate the fourth foul of the game and was forced to go to rest, the Rockets were leaderless, but at this critical moment, the "glider" came out of the warehouse again, and scored 14 points in a single quarter in the third quarter, allowing the Rockets 81:81 The Suns entered the fourth quarter, and in the last 5.1 seconds of the game, the two sides tied at 110, at which time Mario Aley contributed a famous moment of glory in the history of the Rockets!

Kiss of Death!

At the critical moment, who should shoot the decisive shot this time? Olajuwon, Drexler, Kenny Smith, Mad Max, Cassell with a big heart, or Horry? Neither!

Mario Alley!

After the Rockets served, the Suns doubled Olajuwon, and Johnson on the outside was also pestering Drexler, but he didn't have a chance to shoot, and after several changes of hands, the basketball went to the position of ambushing the three-point line at the zero degree angle on the left, ignoring Danny Ainge's defense and shooting directly!

"Huh!"

The ball is in!

The Suns fans in the entire arena were instantly silent, and after throwing in the quasi-lore, Du Er Alie was also very excited, running back to the backcourt while giving the fans a "flying kiss" with his fingers. This is where the "kiss of death" comes from.

There was a tie-break battle, and this time it was Olajuwon's Rockets who had the last laugh, and Olajuwon averaged 29.6 points and 9 points per game. 0 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 2.3 blocks, shooting 50.8% from the field while Barkley averaged 22.3 points, 13.2 rebounds, and 3.1 assists per game. This is more interesting, Barkley has made a total of 22 three-pointers in seven games, only hitting 5 shots, although the shooting rate is not high, but watching the fat and strong Barkley like a tree stump outside the three-point line like a guard pretending to make a three-point shooting feint, the picture is always so discordant, Olajuwon said to Chilkart, who was defending him, "Let him shoot, as long as he shoots, we win." ”

"What do you say! How dare you ignore me! ”

Barkley glared at his huge donkey eyes and shouted, while shooting from beyond the three-point line with the most beautiful position.

"When~~~~"

After stepping on Barkley's Suns, the Rockets face David Robin's Spurs in the Western Conference Finals. This series is a series that fans recognize, and the reason is that Olajuwon and Robinson are both among the top four centers in the league, but the two have only met once in the playoffs in their careers.

Let's not mention it first, let's talk about the most NB man this season, Michael Jordan, after the Bulls advanced to the second round, they faced the Magic of Shaquille O'Neal, an interior killer that has only been encountered once in 20 years.

A total of six games were played in this round of the series, and Jordan was still unmatched, averaging 31 points, 6.5 rebounds, 3.7 assists, 2.5 steals and 1.8 blocks per game, with a shooting rate of 47.7%, and the second-in-command Pippen played inaccurately, although he averaged 19 points per game, but the shooting rate was only a little more than 40%, and the Magic, the murderous sharks almost tore the soft Kukoc to pieces, averaging 24 points, 13.2 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 blocks per game, playing 48% At the same time, Kukoc scored 11 points and 7 rebounds, with a shooting rate of only 44%, and the Magic team played very well except for O'Neal, and the guard Tim Hardaway averaged 18.5 points and 7.5 assists per game, and the big forward Horace Grant, who also played with the Bulls last season, played extremely impressively in this round of the series, averaging 18 points and 11 rebounds per game, and the shooting rate was as high as 64.7%! Then there's Nick Anderson, who shoots 41.7 percent from three-point range and averages 15.2 points per game, and Denis Scott, who averages 14.8 points from three-point range with 35 percent.

The result was obvious, the Magic eliminated the Bulls 4:2, and Jordan's comeback first championship was in vain.

That year, the Spurs were strong, with 62 wins in the regular season and ranked first in the league, Robinson won the regular season MVP, in addition to the Admirals, there were also "Little General" Avery Johnson, who averaged 9.6 assists per game, Danny Rodman, who averaged 16.8 rebounds per game, Sean Eollet, who averaged 20+5 per game, and Vinnie DeNaglo, a white shooter who averaged 12 points per game with a three-point shooting rate of more than 40%, Also on the bench are Doug Rivers (first Clippers head coach), Terry Cummings, Willie Anderson, Chuck Bojan, J.R. Reed, and other important benches.

It was Olajuwon who took away the victory, or the Rockets, who only played 6 games in total, and the Rockets eliminated the Spurs 4:2, Olajuwon had 32.8 points, 11.8 rebounds, 5.5 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocks, and shot 48.3% from the field, while Robinson's data was 23.8 points, 11.3 rebounds, 2.7 assists, 1.5 steals and 2.2 blocks, and the shooting rate was 44.9%.

There is nothing to say about the process of the game, in fact, the main reason why the Spurs lost was not the lack of strength, but the disharmony in the locker room, David Robinson, as a leader, did not have enough aura to suppress Rodman and Avery Johnson, Olajuwon has a very strong interior attack, and it is not enough to rely on a Robinson defense, but Rodman refuses to make up for Robinson, or pinch Olajuwon, and furthermore, the little general is bent on being a leader, This time, seeing Robinson being beaten by Olajuwon, he encouraged others to break away from Robinson's leadership, and there was too much negative news about Rodman off the court, and I didn't follow the rules, which was fundamentally two worlds from the military-born Popovich (Popovich was the team's general manager at the time, and the team's head coach was the gentle Bob Hill, whose aura was weaker than Robinson), Rodman wanted to abolish the original contract and re-sign a big contract but Popovich refused, and finally this resentment broke out in the playoffs, Let Olajuwon blow up Robinson without helping.

In short, the Rockets, who have only won 47 games this season, have come to the stage of the Finals again in the playoffs with 60 wins, the Suns with 59 wins and the Spurs with 62 wins, and his opponent is the Magic, who won 57 wins in the regular season, who eliminated Reggie Miller's Pacers in the Eastern Conference Finals, and the Sharks live up to their name, averaging 27.8 points and 10 rebounds per game, with a staggering 66.1% shooting rate!

At this time, what kind of sparks will Olajuwon, who is at his prime, spark against O'Neal, who has only been in the league for two years and is already a feared shark in the league?