No, Michael Jordan was STILL the best player in 1993. but he had his first retirement after 3-peating that season..Olajuwon was the best player in 94 and 95 though MJ returned in 95' he was bounced out by young Shaq who was to me the second best player in the league to Olajuwon in 95'

@@RickyMoss Wrong, 100% wrong. Olajuwon was 2-0 against Jordan again that year and 5-1 against the 3 peat Bulls

@@hakeemolajuwon4352 he wasn't the best player in 93 though that team got beat by the SuperSonics they gave up 70 points in the second half to them who got beat by the Suns who got beat by Jordan's team

@@RickyMoss SMH son, Olajuwon shut down Kemp, Payton and Ricky Pierce!

@@hakeemolajuwon4352 he got eliminated by them don't get me wrong I love Hakeem my favorite player is Shaq but I always respected Olajuwon for that spanking that he put on him.. not just him though the Admiral and Patrick Ewing he had to beat the leagues other top 3 top centers during the Rockets 2peat that would be like Giannis beating Joel Embiid, Nicola Jokic and Karl Anthony towns for his championship

oh please

Crazy how the Sonics would beat the Rockets this year but go on to lose the Nuggets the following year as the #1 seed

@@RickyMoss The Rockets lost because of bad officiating in overtime.

If Kenny smith makes that 3 there is no overtime. They have only themselves to blame

@@TheSands83 stop making excuses for rigged officiating

Dkouts57 Or.... Seattle doubles and triples every play on defense anyway And yes shot blocking centers give anyone problems. I.e. nearly the same Seattle team was deterred by Mt. Mutombo. Seattle wins 4-3.

The reason the Sonics had a much easier series when the Rockets had Drexler was the Rockets were undersized in the interior. Dream was neutralized in the paint on defense with bigger players like Schrempf and Perkins being shooting threats and this allowed Kemp to dominate inside, this version of the Rockets on the other hand was usually very effective at defending Kemp.

@@ChrisM07 Yup, cuz of the additions of Thorpe, Herrera, and even Bullard.

Explain please

I remember a game he had 7 turnovers in the first half. Rudy T benched him in the 3rd and 4th. Horry came in with 1:26 left in the game and hit two 3's, including the game winner. If i remember right, it was Atlanta they played.

I'm in love.. You single? 😁

Do you really?

whiteflash1323 precisely man if Kenny The Jet Smith had hit the 3 pointer before it went to o.t. the rockets could make it to the western conference finals for the 2nd time since back in 1986 In 7 years but want an good motherfucking game from both teams

Big Shot Bob!

The general conception was the Sonics were his kryptonite because of how they defended him. While the Sonics did collapse on him a lot using 2-3 players he had the interior help here which allowed him to stay in the paint on defense and on offense the Rockets had more opportunities to score inside which in turn also opened up the shooters, the Rockets could've won this series if that "foul" and "turnover" that wrongfully went against them in overtime which gave the Sonics possession had been called correctly. The Rockets were undersized in the interior later on when the Sonics swept them.

@@ChrisM07 that series wasn’t on Hakeem tho. Seattle just had a more talented team.

@@yvans. I know that, and the Rockets weren't significantly less talented or anything they were probably the best team in the West overall when the bench was upgraded with Cassell and Elie to go along with the starting 5.

Yesir the Blazers were also good in the early 90s. You never knew who was coming out of the West back then

after Magic retired, it was the Blazers most expected to win. the Blazers were supposed to win in 1991 and were upset by Los Angeles. 1991-92 was the Blazers year again to lose. 92-93 Barkley moved West and with it the West's best expectations followed. the Suns were favorite in 93. then the West became as open as the entire league in 94 and 95 cuz Seattle was a choker in 94 and 95. the Suns were chokers in 94 and 95. the Rockets were only so good in regular seasons. the Jazz were chokers. the Spurs were chokers. then 96 to 98 it was Seattle, Houston or Utah to win the West and they all choked eventually. Los Angeles too in 1998 choked. A bunch of chokers out West.

Unfortunately the Sonics were the kryptonite the Rockets couldn't overcome. The next two seasons (93-94 & 94-95) the Sonics lost in the first round. Thus the Rockets didn't have to face them. The very next season (95-96) the Sonics swept us both regular & postseason. Even with Clyde. It was so demoralizing to go through that. That's what led to the Barkley trade.

@@ATLienForLife this game was rigged AF. No one can matchup against olajuwon. Even the bulls can't beat them. I'm a Charles Barkley fan (suns fan) and suns can never beat olajuwon. Rockets should have won the championship in 93 instead of the bulls, if the NBA is not a rigged league. The rockets should have been the ones who won that 3peat. Hakeem the dream is the greatest player in NBA history. Salute

@trifolkelTV They probably would have won in 96 also because the front office would not have made all those stupid trades that tore the team apart. That may have been the Bulls/Rockets final everyone was hoping for.

so what? the refs screwed the sonics in game 7 of the western finals in 93.

bocfan53 Because they wanted a Suns-Bulls Finals.

bocfan53 We would have easily beat the Suns and then went on to beat the Bulls.

@jaboo82681 No excuse blowing a 2-0 lead and 3-1 lead in back-to-back years.

Dkouts57 ugh David Robinson was near identical to Hakeem. Also Patrick Ewing and Bill Russell & Chamberlain have some things to say about this. Especially Chamberlain who is probably the most spectacular athlete of all names mentioned here.

@DK57 Yeah man. This is what I always try to tell everyone and you got a few out there who try to say Tim Duncan, Dennis Rodman, etc. is a better defender, than you have the peanut gallery trying to tell me Bull Russell is better. There is no way Russell would be able to do what Hakeem did in the same era. Hakeem’s opponents were all in Class A versus Russell’s who weren’t. If you list the top ten players at each position, they were typically on the opposing team when Hakeem played those teams.

Alecsander Hamilton I will give David Robinson props as he should be in the argument in the top 5 de ender conversation if not second best, but he was not better than Hakeem at defense. He didn’t have the defensive IQ of Hakeem nor was he able to play the switch like Hakeem did.

@alecsanderhamilton9224 I've lived in San Antonio, Houston and Austin all my life. Born in 1975. David Robinson only cared about money and church. He was soft on defence and never won without Duncan. Russell was nowhere near the defender Hakeem was and had some really great teams. I'll give you Wilt. Wilt was a fantastic player, but he was not as smart as Hakeem. Wilt only wanted fame and women. Look at his highlights, look how many times he looks at the cameras. Out of all of them, only Patrick Ewing could match with Hakeem and we all know what happened in the 94 finals.

Fun and explosive on basketball

+DJVijilante The greatest all-around playoff series by any player in NBA history.

Yet Houston got blown out in 3 losses despite Good defense on Kemp

Great points, Antetokounmpo is going to Olajuwon like especially with his worked on post game.

Also, Sonics were blown in all their losses and it’s a shame the only way they could win is with the refs on their side.

jaboo82681 You are correct in that most were picking the Knicks vs Suns, except Doug Collins. I remember being in the grocery store and on the cover of Hoop or SI had Doug Collins saying it would be Bulls Suns Finals not KnicksSuns and the Bulls would win again. Now getting back to your comment, even though NY was the media capital of the world, it didn’t matter because nobody had won more than two consecutive titles since the Celtics so the Bulls would be a better attraction than the Knicks. Second of all the Knicks were more of a defensive team and people like to watch points on the board. Look at the ratings of the Knicks at Rockets in 1994. Last of all, Rod Thorn was the second in charge of the NBA and he drafted Jordan when we was with the Bulls. Of course he wanted his boy to win it all and be the first to three peat since Boston won 8 in a row from 1959-1966.

+Mytown Trill They didn't want to see MJ dethroned. The golden boy. That would've put all doubters to rest... Trying to put a footnote on their championships... MJ and the Bulls didn't want to see H-Town in June.

+Mytown Trill Hard to buy this when the Rockets had the ball and six guys on the floor for the final play of the series. Still couldn't get it done.

Kurtis B. Seattle got lucky, even with bad calls going their way they still barely won.

Seattle won. Just as they did 70% of the time vs the Rockets during Hakeem's career. That ain't luck.

Kurtis B. Didn't beat them the final time though, it's sad that beating the Rockets was considered their championship lol.

More so, Barkley vs Jordan in the NBA finals.

The Sonics were always vulnerable when they were forced into playing a halfcourt game, that's why them being the Rockets "kryptonite" at this point is overstated the Rockets had a stronger frontline here compared to the version that had Drexler.

@jaboo82681 NY had the team to beat Chicago, but they had no heart. But, re-watch all them phantom fouls MJ was getting at the MSG in game 5 when the series was tied 2-2 to ensure the Bulls take the series lead.

Nah, it wasn't just the calls that Sonics team was a great team they were dangerous and so fast on both ends of the court they swarmed every player defensively especially the stars forcing steals and turnovers and if you turned the ball over against them they were very fast going the other way they were like BOTH showtime Lakers on offense and gritty New York Knicks on defense.. I preferred the 93' team over the 96' team that went to the finals they were so much quicker.. they just didn't have a star player the caliber of Hakeem tho.. the Rockets possibly would've beat the Suns had they played them this season as they did the next two years in a row..

@@tylerhingleton8493 Knicks went 20-35 at the free throw line that game. Bulls only shot 23 free throws in that game. The Knicks lost that game for themselves and the Bulls won it fair and square, there's no excuses to be made for them.

What a talent he had

I guess so

That's one of the reasons they were very popular amongst a lot of fans and one of the reasons people dont give the Rockets' championships any respect. They wanted to see the Sonics win in 94 instead of getting upset in the first round. And to that I say: Well, sorry people. The Sonics' arrogance and ball hogging ways got the best of them. The Rockets were a cohesive unit that respected one another and that is why they were champions in 94 and not the Sonics. Sorry people.

Because the NBA is rigged and scripted. That's why

I never realized that ,but your right that's pretty strange , the only thing I can think of ,was that maybe both teams ended with the same record during the regular season and the sonics had the tie breaker , but if that was the case ,the sonics would have been the #2 seed.....strange.

@@DRAGOINTHEHOUSE Back then there were only two divisions in each conference, and so the division winner was guaranteed at least a #2 seed no matter what their record was. But unlike the NFL, the team with the better record still got homecourt advantage even if they were seeded lower, which is the way it should be. Later on, the league increased to three divisions, and so every division winner was guaranteed at least a #3 seed no matter what their record was. This led to a problem several years ago when the Spurs and Clippers - two elite teams that year - met in the first round, which really should have been a Conference Finals matchup. So the next year the league stopped guaranteeing high seeds to division winners, rendering divisions essentially meaningless.

@@brucewayne1662 thanx for clearing it out .

+More Cowbell Yessir. I'm watching this current Golden State situation. No way they were a 73 win team. The drama with Mvp controversy and rematch from last year makes for easy and interesting story writing. We'll see how it unfolds. They may also see a good match up with Cavs/Okc. But GS/Cleveland looks more attractive to the masses. Would be nice if there was integrity in the league. But I guess in the end it's all show business.

psykomystro I agree with your general premise - the league uses its powers to produce what it feels are going to be the best TV ratings. TV ratings = money

BTw.. Dig the name.

I agree, game 7 was rigged in favor of the Sonics.

More Cowbell now game 7 of the 2018 wcf!

@Comin4min Bingo (on George Karl and the Illegal Defense on Hakeem)!!

Chad Snow he wasn't trying to get a rebound at all! he's trying to get a view of the final play of game 7! He didn't block anybody out or even come within 7 ft from the paint! The two tipped passes the Rockets got charged with had more of an impact then anything that guy could've done even if he had got the rebound! That's ridiculous! Like he would've tipped in the game winner and nobody would've noticed he wasn't one of the five guys who checked in on the last play of game 7. The thrown away pass by Perkins over Horry's hands was as blatant as it gets. As blatant as Kobe elbowing Bibby in the face on an inbound play and nobody said anything!

B. Entringer Top 4? It depends. If you just take talent and skills, it's top 1 !

Man. . .Hakeem's game was . . . .beautiful lol he was so smooth but defended real raw!!!!!

Horrible officiating maybe.

Houston barely beat the Clippers😂😂😂😂. Very Overated

I don't recall the Sonics breezing through the first round much, they usually had supposedly easier matchups too compared to the Rockets in particular the 2 seasons after this.

Chris M Seattle was better in the regular season usually, correct? 1993 3 Seattle 55-27 vs 6 Utah 47-35 2 Houston 55-27 vs 7 Clippers ?? Seattle home court as 3 seed vs 2 seed Houston... Seattle tougher first round matchup and better regular season, a lower seed because Phoenix won Pacific & West. 1994 1 Seattle 63-19 vs 8 Denver 41-41 2 Houston 58-24 vs 7 Portland 47-35 Seattle upset. Lost to an inferior team anyway. All at once, the West in the 90’s was tough, yet vulnerable. After Magic Johnson, their was never a guarantee slam dunk favorite. After Kareem, not even LA was as unstoppable, and even LA with Kareem & Magic, in 1981 & 1986, suffered some humiliating & upsetting series’. 1981 to Moses Malone & HOU and 1986 to Olajuwon, Sampson & HOU. 1983 LA lost to an evenly worthy champion, the 1983 Sixers of Dr. J & Moses Malone. 1984, another worthy and even matched Celtics team with their own front court beasted & contended with Kareem & Worthy & Magic. Lakers won it all in 1980, 1982, 1985, 1987, beating Philadelphia twice and Boston twice. In 1988, Lakers repeated (before popular) and beat up on an evenly worthy rough & tough Detroit Pistons. 1989, LA lost to Detroit, a tough feat to 3peat. In 1990, LA lost to Phoenix, which was an upset near as shocking or alarming as 1981 or 1986, but it was first season post Kareem & the last season for Riley, who no longer was respected. Still, LA was 63-19, upset in the second round. 1991, which kind of ushered in the era this Rockets team and Sonics team belongs to, LA, now upset the favorite 63-19 Portland Trailblazers. Who was the best in the West? 1992 Magic Johnson is gone. The West’s Michael Jordan is gone. Portland is favorite. They win the West. They finish 11-4 vs West into NBA Finals and are 2-2 with MJ, Pippen and Chicago before losing in 6 games. They are also up 15 points in 4th Qtr of Game 6. Very strong team who falls out of real contention immediately after this. Portland goes 51-31 in 93 loses in first round. Goes 47-35 in 94 loses in first round. Goes 44-38 in 95 swept in first round. Goes 44-38 in 96 loses 2-3 in first round before trending upward again. Loses Drexler in 95. Portland, is a strong franchise from 70’s to 00’s like Phoenix, and Seattle. Very consistent without bottoming out and with high peak successes. 1992, Houston is out of the playoffs. Seattle is a 6 seed, 47-35, that upsets a bloated 55-27 Warriors team 3 seed. These kind of flip floppy upsets were a norm out West. Records mean surprisingly little for 1-6 seeds without Magic. 1993, Barkley goes to the West and immediately makes the Suns a slam dunk favorite. They finish with the best record in the league. Phoenix was already a great team with KJ from 1988-89 to 1991-92. They lose to Chicago 4-2. They are upset by Chicago but Chicago is now a 3peat champion, so it is hard to imagine the Bulls dominance not being a foregone conclusion, but it wasn’t. Although, Phoenix was less dominant than Chicago through the postseason. Phoenix went 5 games with Magicless 39-43 Lakers. Houston, the 2 seed squeaked by Clippers 7 seed. Seattle, the 3 seed squeaked by 6 seed Jazz. 5 seed Spurs beat 4 seed, defending West champion Blazers 3-1. Odd? Meanwhile the East is Bulls vs Knicks clear cut. Knicks 3-1 over Pacers. Bulls, on game, 3-0 vs Hawks, who, still has Wilkins (29.9 ppg) and is poised for 57 wins in 1994. Reggie Lewis 3🍀4 dies mid series vs Hornets 🐝 and Charlotte wins first series for an expansion team of the late 80’s era. Hard to tell how good Hornets or Celtics could have been if Mourning & Johnson stayed healthy and friendly in Charlotte or if Reggie Lewis stayed alive throughout the 90’s.😢. Cavs are again above 50 wins and squeak by NJ. Cavs win 3 playoff series from 87-88 to 93-94 and lose to Michael, Scottie and Chicago 5 out of 6 playoff appearances in those 7 seasons. All series wins came in 92 and 93 before facing Chicago. Injuries and a trade really curb this Cleveland teams success. Also MJ, Pippen & Chicago. Barkley’s 76ers did 🇺🇸 once in 1989-90. 1994. Jordan retires. NBA is changed. The two best records in the league are out of the West but who’s the best? Seattle is 63-19 but they lose to a 22 win underdog. Houston is 58-24 but start out 15-0 & 22-1. Are they better than 56-26, hurt all year Suns? Barkley & KJ roughly 60 to 70 games played individually by both of them. Houston has a harder first round opponent than Seattle but both prove vulnerable to virtually any opponent. Phoenix takes Houston 7 games and beats them 2x at home. Utah shows up flat vs Houston. Then Houston barely survives New York down 2-3 in the finals. 1995 Houston stumbles. Seattle comes back down to Earth. The East is now freshened by Michaels return and Shaq & Penny’s quick ascension. Houston barely upsets Utah whom they did beat 4-1 in 1994. Houston barely beats Phoenix again 4-3, and were down 3-1. Houston beats San Antonio 4-2 because Hakeem is Jordan to Robinson’s Drexler in WCF. Jordan 35.8 vs Drexler 24.8 in 92 NBA Finals. Hakeem 35.3 vs Robinson 23.8 in 95 WCF. Houston sweeps a very young and naive Magic team of Penny & Shaq whom already won a title for themselves having defeated MJ and Chicago. Kind of a falseflagging 1995 season full of strangeness and apprehension, bursts of excitement and lulls of mediocrity. 1996 Seattle is 64-18 again. Houston 48-34 again. Seattle 63-19 in 1994, 57-25 in 95 and 64-18 in 1996. Houston 58-24 in 1994, 47-35 in 95, 48-34 in 1996. 1 seed Seattle loses to 41-41 Nuggets in 94 2 seed Houston defeats 47-35 Blazers, 56-26 Suns, 53-29 Jazz, 57-25 Knicks 4 seed Seattle loses to 48-34 Lakers 6 seed Houston defeats 60-22 Jazz, 59-23 Suns, 62-20 Spurs, 57-25 Magic 1 seed Seattle defeats 39-43 Kings 👑, 48-34 Rockets, 55-27 Jazz, loses to 72-10 Bulls 5 seed Houston defeats 53-29 Lakers, loses to 64-18 Sonics

He won them twice

@@hectorlopez1069 prob deserved more. Rodman stole a couple as a 6th man role defender on championship teams. They used to treat the defensive award and still largely due as a way to shine light on players who don't necessarily get their name called often after scoring 2 or 3 points... Michael Cooper Dennis Rodman Mark Eaton... And those guys were amazing at what they did... But from 84-85 to 91-92... There are probably 3 or 4 seasons you can pick where Hakeem played better defense than anybody while scoring 20+ rebounding 12 to 13, blocking and stealing 5-6 balls a game but since he played with Sampson in 85 & 86 (86 probably should have been an Hakeem trophy... But two young twin towers they weren't going to reward that quickly and since they played off each other the dominance of which one was the anchor or not was less clear then in years post Sampson... Then in 87 they struggled and 88 he's officially Sampson but Michael Jordan has his otherworldly 87-88 and on top of record breaking offense which garners lots of love and support, he also matched his defense to the ultimate he could do .. which is essentially 3.2 spg and 1.6 or 1.7 bpg, without looking I'll mix up some 86-87 with 87-88, but that gives MJ 4.9 defensive stops per game.... Now I don't have the compiled stats from Hakeem from 85-88 in front of me and I'm not going to look up before finishing my statement, but I'm pretty sure even with Michael's 4.9 or 4.8 defensive stops he probably falls beneath Hakeem's usual 5-6 defensive stops per game .. I know Hakeem had some less than his best seasons there in the late 80's early 90's where his scoring either dropped or his blocks actually trickled under 4 and hardly over 3 and maybe even a 2.8 or 2.9 or so in there which for him is like Luc Longley all of a sudden switched bodies with him.... But he'd still have 1 or more steals per game at the least and I think always over 1.5 or so.... So he had a couple seasons where maybe he did have less defensive total stops than MJ.... But I doubt it... Even at MJs best defensively, Eaton's best defensively blocking shots, Rodman's 9-12 rpg before he became a starter for Detroit and San Antonio with 1 and 1 blocks and steals more or less, and Coopers or Moncriefs or Alvin Robertson's faux Michael Jordan hybrid seasons, I doubt any of them routinely or even more than once and maybe only one time between them all, did they ever top Hakeem in total defensive stops, as a swift defensive anchor who didn't just create turnovers and block shots but also altered shots, dominated the low post action, shut down passing lanes, shutdown his guy maybe two guys maybe three guys per game.... So realistically it is absurb that the Defensive player of the year award trophy 🏆 namesake only won the award twice in his career. It waa focused on rewarding the have nots instead of the IT guy which obviously when looking at the totality of NBA history after the fact, it's obvious he's the best defensive player in NBA history that was recorded in the modern era. It was year 9 Hakeem won his first DPOY.... How? Why? What? 88-89 to 94-95 for Hakeem 12.7 rpg probably 2nd or third to Rodman and or Barkley, maybe #1 though too, cuz Rodman didn't play enough to truly dominate the boards until 91-92 which is 4 out of these 7 seasons I've numbered Hakeem's stats on a paper in front of me to review whenever I want to argue this point in mi Sala. 2.0 steals per game ! That's up there with Pippen Jordan Payton McMillan Robertson Blaylock of the era.... He was on the ball all over the ball. When looking at some highlights of the Bulls vs Suns I think in 93 or maybe the Knicks or whomever and they pass it to a Center opposite team of Chicago's Will Perdue... And I mean the center on the opposing team oh yeah Ewing so it was the Knicks but obviously we know Ewing can shoot when facing up baseline off a pass, so he receives a pass after darting free of Perdue and is halfway between the 3 point arc and the beginning of the paint and clear of the baseline with enough space to go left or right after the pass, but it just astonished me how Ewing released from his post up with Perdue on his back, catches the pass, Perdue still hasn't moved in reaction to Ewing's release for the catch in face up for an easy 2 by Ewing's skill standard, And Ewing catches securely, he faces up wide open, surveys the field relaxed allowing the Knicks time to motion and make Chicago work defensively, Perdue still hasn't challenged Ewingor cut off a passing lane to a cutting John Starks and Ewing open enough for a wide open J, refuses to shoot in order to run a little offense and wear down Chicago's doberman defense, being patient and he bounce passes a pass to Starks cutting with Perdue still 3 4 feet away from him with hands up but he doesn't 1. Challenge Ewing 1 on 1 2. Doesn't close the passing lane, 3. Doesn't rush Ewing, trap him perimeter and cut off his passing lane into a turnover.. Hakeem could do that and would do that pretty much everytime. Hakeem would be on Ewing as he caught it, he'd be able to square him off and move his feet to cut off Ewing penetration, and he'd at the same time cut off the Starks passing lane and probably steal the entry pass to the cutter if attempted by him.... Hakeem was alot different than 90% of Centers . He averaged 3.9 blocks per game with 24.9 ppg. 12.7, 2.0, 3.9 24.9. 5.9 defensive stops per game from 89-95. 7 seasons he averages about 4 blocks and 2 steals a game. Mark Eaton's best season he averaged 5.6 blocks with 0.4 steals for a whopping 6.0 stops per game. Hakeem averaged 5.9 for 7 seasons not even considering great season he had 85-88 and 96-99 when he still was better than most. Michael Jordan with 4.8 or 4.9 in 88 and he's 1 whole defensive highlight away from Hakeem's nightly routine. And Jordan didn't block 1.6 and 1.7 ever again outside of 87 and 88. Never again climbing past 1.2 or so and mainly hovered round a sweet 1.0. Hakeem averaged 2 spg ! For seven seasons. 2 DPOY'S? I mean, c'mon 😅

@@hectorlopez1069 Hakeem 3.9 defensive stops in 85

@@hectorlopez1069 5.4 & 5.3 by Hakeem in 86 and 87

@@hectorlopez1069 4.8 stops per game tied with MJ in 88.... Was Jordan ever a more valuable defensive player than MJ? Probably not even for a second.... Still, he got a reward for being a shooting guard blocking shots like a forward, and stealing like a guard.... Hakeem was an anchor for 15+ years

They both won 55 that year

They had a slightly better record, either outright or due to some sort of tie breaking rule. The reason they were seeded slightly lower is because they did not win their division, while the Rockets won theirs. Apparently if the Rockets had won their last regular season game against the Spurs they would have had a better record and therefore homecourt advantage. That's the way it should work. The team with the better record should get homecourt advantage, no matter what their seed is. Unfortunately in the NFL it isnt like that, which I think is stupid.

Bruce Wayne Hey Bruce, thanks for the reply. Ya I couldn't figure this one out for the longest time 2 weeks ago.. you're right on the Rockets being the division leader. I think also, when this matchup happened in the 2nd round, Seattle was given the home-court because they won the matchup tie-breaker against the rockets in the regular season, beating them in all 3 games or some sort (i think). didn't know such rule existed. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1992%E2%80%9393_NBA_season

They won the regular season series 3-1.

Welcome to planet corruption

I found it strange giving the MVP trophy to Barkley and Dave Robinson

Winston garland

Because the NBA is rigged and scripted...

Stanger182 because in 90s centers and forwards tried to block everything and he’s going up against a top 3 defensive player of all time and maybe the best shot blocker to ever live

DoubleClutch95 55-27 season records both teams. Sonics won most of that season 3-1, so they are homecourt advantage

In basketball the team with the better record gets home court advantage no matter what their seeding is. Rockets got the #2 seed only because they won their division. The Sonics didnt win their division because the Suns were in their same division and had the best record in the league. If seeding were done only by records then the Sonics would have been the #2 seed and the Rockets would have been the #3 seed.