1993-95: Championship years of Houston Rockets

On July 30, 1993, Leslie Alexander purchased the Rockets for $85 million.^[58] In Tomjanovich's second full year as head coach, the Rockets began the 1993–94 season by tying an NBA record with a start of 15–0.^[59] Led by Olajuwon, who was named the MVP and Defensive Player of the Year,^[60] the Rockets won a franchise-record 58 games.^[2][61] The Rockets recovered from being two games down to the Phoenix Suns in the second round of the playoffs,^[62] to advance to the finals.^[61] Houston was once again down by three games to two to the New York Knicks, but they managed to win the last two games on their home court, and claim their first championship in franchise history.^[2] Olajuwon was awarded the Finals MVP, after averaging 27 points, nine rebounds and four blocked shots a game, and after close to a quarter of a century associated with the Rockets, Rudy Tomjanovich finally won a championship ring as head coach.^[60]
The Rockets initially struggled in the first half of the 1994–95 season, and ended up winning only 47 games, which was 11 games lower than their previous year's total.^[61][64] In a midseason trade with Portland, the Rockets obtained guard Clyde Drexler, a former teammate of Olajuwon at the University of Houston,^[65] in exchange for Otis Thorpe.^[66] Houston entered the playoffs as the sixth seed in the Western Conference, but managed to defeat the 60–22 Utah Jazz in the first round.^[64] They fell behind 3–1 to the 59–23 Phoenix Suns in the second round, but won three straight to win the series, and became the first team in NBA history to overcome both a 2–0 and 3–1 series deficit in a seven-game series.^[67] The Rockets then beat the 62–20 San Antonio Spurs in the conference finals,^[64] to reach the Finals against the Orlando Magic, led by Shaquille O'Neal and Anfernee "Penny" Hardaway.^[68] When Houston swept the series in four straight games,^[64] they became the first team in NBA history to win the championship as a sixth seed, and the first to beat four 50-win teams in a single postseason en route to the championship.Olajuwon, who had averaged 35.3 points and 12.5 rebounds against the Spurs and regular-season MVP David Robinson in the conference finals,^[70] was named the Finals MVP, becoming only the second player after Michael Jordan to win the award two years in a row.