Rockets Record Encore Houston’s Road Show Rolls To 2-0 Lead In Nba Finals

The Orlando Magic’s high-powered offense broke down, and Houston’s road show roared right by.

The Rockets, led by Hakeem Olajuwon’s 34 points, took a 2-0 lead in the NBA Finals on Friday night, running past Orlando 117-106 and setting an NBA record with their seventh consecutive playoff road win.

The series shifts to Houston for Sunday night’s Game 3, the first of three at The Summit, where the Rockets are 4-4 in the postseason.

A big first half by Olajuwon and reserve point guard Sam Cassell, who tied his career playoff high with 31 points, put the Magic down by 22 at halftime, and they never recovered.

Shaquille O’Neal had 23 of his 33 points in the second half and Anfernee Hardaway added 32, but they didn’t get much help. The team that led the league in scoring during the regular season simply got too far behind to catch up.

Now Orlando, only the second team to lose the first two games of the finals at home, may have fallen too far behind in the series to catch up.

Only two teams have managed to come back from an 0-2 deficit in the finals - the 1977 Portland Trail Blazers won the title after dropping the first two games to Philadelphia, and Boston bounced back to beat the Lakers in 1969.

While Houston set another NBA record with its ninth road victory of the postseason, the Magic lost consecutive games at home for the first time this season.

“In the first half, we executed everything we wanted to do; the guys passed the ball, the ball movement was great,” Cassell said. “The defense was excellent, we allowed them one shot and we did the things we needed to do on offense.”

Clyde Drexler overcame early foul trouble to score 23 points for Houston, and Robert Horry had 11 points and a careerhigh seven steals. Kenny Smith, who had 23 points in Game 1, was scoreless in 19 minutes, but it didn’t matter with the Rockets shooting 52 percent.

“When you have five guys contributing, everybody being a part of it, everybody knowing they’re going to be a part of it, that’s when you’re going to be successful,” Cassell said.

The Magic’s two 23-year-old AllStars carried their more tested teammates. Nick Anderson, whose four missed free throws in the final 10.5 seconds of Game 1 cost the Magic a win in regulation, was 4-of-13 from the field and Dennis Scott was 3-of10.

All through the playoffs, the Magic had relied on 50 percent or better shooting. After shooting 47 percent in Game 1, a 120-118 overtime loss, Orlando hit 46 percent of its field goals and finally got hot in the final period when it was too late to matter.

The Magic hit six of their first seven shots of the fourth quarter to cut a 19-point deficit to 11 on Brian Shaw’s 3-pointer with 7:02 to play. Anderson’s 3-pointer with 5:44 remaining cut Houston’s lead to single digits, 101-92, for the first time since early in the second quarter.

Orlando got within nine several mmore times, but the Rockets kept their cool.

After a nightmarish first half, the Magic opened the third with a 12-4 spurt to cut Houston’s lead to 67-53. But their offense kept sputtering, and the Rockets raced back to an 80-57 lead with 4:28 left in the third period.

Rockets 117, Magic 107

HOUSTON (117) Min FG FT Reb A PF Pts Elie 41 2-6 4-4 2-7 4 2 8 Horry 48 4-10 2-2 2-10 3 1 11 Olajuwon 42 14-30 6-9 3-11 2 5 34 Smith 19 0-2 0-0 0-0 1 1 0 Drexler 32 7-10 9-12 1-5 5 4 23 Brown 12 4-5 0-0 1-2 0 1 8 Cassell 30 8-12 11-12 0-1 3 4 31 Jones 15 0-0 2-2 0-2 0 5 2 Chilcutt 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Team 6 Totals 240 39-75 34-41 9-38 18 23 117 ORLANDO (106) Min FG FT Reb A PF Pts Grant 40 4-7 2-2 5-10 1 5 10 Scott 35 3-10 1-1 1-3 1 2 9 O’Neal 45 12-22 9-14 3-12 7 5 33 Hardaway 44 12-21 4-5 2-5 8 3 32 Anderson 43 4-13 2-4 1-6 5 2 11 Shaw 19 3-8 0-0 2-3 2 3 8 Turner 11 1-4 0-0 0-1 0 4 3 Bowie 3 0-0 0-0 0-1 0 2 0 Team 12 Totals 240 39-85 18-26 14-41 24 26 106 Houston 28 35 27 27 - 117 Orlando 19 22 30 35 - 106

3-Point goals-Houston 5-14 (Cassell 4-6, Horry 1-5, Smith 0-1, Elie 0-2), Orlando 10-26 (Hardaway 4-6, Shaw 2-5, Scott 2-7, Turner 1-3, Anderson 1-5). Technicals-Houston illegal defenses 3. A-16,010.