Dream Finish For Rockets Olajuwon’s Tip Gives Houston Win In Game 1

Once the Houston Rockets got to overtime, their experience and Hakeem Olajuwon were all they needed.

Olajuwon’s tip-in of Clyde Drexler’s miss with three-tenths of a second remaining in overtime Wednesday night lifted Houston to a 120-118 victory over the Orlando Magic in Game 1 of the NBA Finals.

“I just think this team has been down before, we just never give up,” Drexler said. “We just continue to work hard and we know the big fella (Olajuwon) is going to come along.”

Come he did. Olajuwon had four of Houston’s 10 points in overtime and finished with 31, winning the first round against Shaquille O’Neal, who had 26 points and 16 rebounds and nearly won the game for his young team.

But the Magic’s Nick Anderson missed four free throws in the last 10.5 seconds of regulation, allowing the Rockets to send the game into overtime.

The Rockets got an outstanding game from Kenny Smith, who hit a 3-pointer with 1.6 seconds left to force overtime and finished with 23 points. He had seven 3-pointers, an NBA Finals record.

“In the first half I felt there were opportunities for me but I just didn’t feel real comfortable taking the shot,” Smith said. “In the second half, I just felt a little bit more comfortable. The shot was blessed and started going.”

Houston won for the sixth straight time on the road in the playoffs, tying a playoff record. That mark tied the 1991 Chicago Bulls. The Rockets also tied a record for total playoff road wins with eight, the same number won by the 1981 Houston team.

“This is just Game 1; we happen to win Game 1,” Drexler said. “Game 2 will be another tough struggle, and we’re looking forward to it.”

Robert Horry, who blocked Dennis Scott’s 3-point attempt at the buzzer in regulation, hit two 3-pointers to start the overtime and a hook shot by Olajuwon gave the Rockets a 118-115 lead.

After a timeout, Scott inbounded to O’Neal, who got the ball back to Scott, and his 3 from the left side tied it with 5.5 seconds to play.

Following another timeout, Drexler took the inbounds from Horry, drove hard to the basket and put up an off-balance layup that Olajuwon tipped in off the glass with three-tenths of a second left.

Brian Shaw inbounded from mid-court and threw the ball off the backboard as time expired.

With its high score and frenetic pace, the game was nothing like last year’s grind-it-out Game 1, in which the Rockets grappled their way to an 85-78 win over the Knicks. In that series, neither team ever hit 100 points.

The only grappling in this game was between Olajuwon and O’Neal, whose battle in the paint was the focal point of the fourth quarter.

Olajuwon hit 13 of 26 shots but had only six rebounds, including the one that won the game. O’Neal was 10 of 16 and had 16 rebounds.

Drexler finished with 23 points.

Rockets 120, Magic 118

Houston Min FG FT Reb A PF Pts

Elie 39 7-11 3-4 2-5 4 2 18

Horry 47 7-18 1-2 0-8 3 4 19

Olajuwon 48 13-26 5-7 1-6 7 5 31

Smith 42 8-13 0-0 0-3 9 3 23

Drexler 48 7-19 8-8 4-11 7 3 23

Brown 14 1-5 0-0 2-5 0 0 2

Cassell 11 1-3 1-2 0-1 1 2 4

Jones 15 0-1 0-0 0-2 0 2 0

Chilcutt 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0

Team 10

Totals 265 44-96 18-23 9-41 31 21 120

ORLANDO

Min FG FT Reb A PF Pts

Scott 38 3-10 3-3 0-4 5 4 11

Grant 47 7-15 1-1 7-16 2 2 15

O’Neal 44 10-16 6-9 3-16 9 5 26

Anderson 50 9-18 0-4 3-11 5 0 22

Hardaway 45 11-25 3-3 2-4 5 3 26

Turner 14 1-4 0-0 0-1 1 1 3

Shaw 22 5-12 0-0 1-5 4 4 11

Bowie 4 2-3 0-0 0-0 1 3 4

Royal 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0

Team 11

Totals 265 48-103 13-20 16-57 32 22 118

Houston 19 31 37 23 10 - 120 Orlando 30 31 19 30 8 - 118

3-point goals-Houston 14-32 (Smith 7-11, Horry 4-10, Elie 1-2, Cassell 1-2, Drexler 1-6, Brown 0-1), Orlando 9-30 (Anderson 4-10, Scott 2-7, Turner 1-2, Shaw 1-5, Hardaway 1-6). Technical-Cassell, 7:342nd. A-16,010.

Officials-Joe Crawford, Dick Bavetta, Steve Javie.