1993–94 NBA season

1993–94 NBA season
League	National Basketball Association
Sport	Basketball
Duration	November 5, 1993 – April 24, 1994 April 28 – June 5, 1994 (Playoffs) June 8 – 22, 1994 (Finals)
Number of teams	27
TV partner(s)	NBC, TBS, TNT
Draft
Top draft pick	Chris Webber
Picked by	Orlando Magic (traded to Golden State Warriors for Anfernee Hardaway)
Regular season
Top seed	Seattle SuperSonics
Season MVP	Hakeem Olajuwon (Houston)
Top scorer	David Robinson (San Antonio)
Playoffs
Eastern champions	New York Knicks
Eastern runners-up	Indiana Pacers
Western champions	Houston Rockets
Western runners-up	Utah Jazz
Finals
Champions	Houston Rockets
Runners-up	New York Knicks
Finals MVP	Hakeem Olajuwon (Houston)

The 1993–94 NBA season was the 48th season of the National Basketball Association. The season ended with the Houston Rockets defeating the New York Knicks 4 games to 3 in the NBA Finals to win the franchise's first championship.

Notable occurrences

Coaching changes

Offseason
Team	1992–93 coach	1993–94 coach
Atlanta Hawks	Bob Weiss	Lenny Wilkens
Cleveland Cavaliers	Lenny Wilkens	Mike Fratello
Dallas Mavericks	Gar Heard	Quinn Buckner
Detroit Pistons	Ron Rothstein	Don Chaney
Indiana Pacers	Bob Hill	Larry Brown
Los Angeles Clippers	Larry Brown	Bob Weiss
Orlando Magic	Matt Guokas	Brian Hill
In-season
Team	Outgoing coach	Incoming coach
Los Angeles Lakers	Randy Pfund	Bill Bertka
	Bill Bertka	Magic Johnson

• The Orlando Magic became the first team to earn the top overall pick in consecutive years in the Lottery Era. They drafted Chris Webber in the 1993 NBA Draft, only to trade him to the Golden State Warriors for Penny Hardaway. Webber would win Rookie of the Year that season.
• Just before the start of the season, Michael Jordan shocked the world by announcing his retirement from the NBA following the death of his father. Jordan wouldn't be back on the court until March 1995.
• The Chicago Bulls played their final season at Chicago Stadium.
• The Cleveland Cavaliers played their final season at Richfield Coliseum.
• The San Antonio Spurs played their first season at the Alamodome.
• The Atlanta Hawks traded Dominique Wilkins to the Los Angeles Clippers for Danny Manning.
• The Dallas Mavericks almost became the first team to lose 70 or more games in consecutive seasons. They finished with a dreadful 13-69 record.
• Isiah Thomas of the Detroit Pistons suffered a torn Achilles tendon in a game against the Orlando Magic in April, which led to his retirement from the NBA. Just a few months prior, teammate Bill Laimbeer announced his retirement, citing a lack of desire to play. Their retirements came just several months short of Grant Hill's arrival the next season.
• Laker legend Magic Johnson tried his hand at coaching, but the Lakers missed the playoffs for just the fourth time in NBA history and Johnson refused to come back for the 1994–95 season.
• The Houston Rockets tied a record set in 1948 by the Washington Capitols in starting the season with 15 victories; they started the season 22–1 before finishing with a 58–24 record.
• On February 17, David Robinson of the San Antonio Spurs recorded the NBA's 4th quadruple-double (34 points, 10 each rebounds, assists, and blocks) in a home game against the Detroit Pistons. This is the last time a quadruple-double was made in an NBA game.
• The 1994 NBA All-Star Game was played at the Target Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota, with the East defeating the West 127–118. Scottie Pippen of the Chicago Bulls took home the game's MVP honors.
• On the season's final day, Spurs center David Robinson scored 71 points against the Los Angeles Clippers to capture the scoring title.
• In the wake of the Northridge earthquake, The game between Sacramento Kings and Los Angeles Lakers was postponed and rescheduled.
• Reggie Miller of the Indiana Pacers became just the third member of the 50-40-90 Club by shooting 50% from the field, 42% from three, and 91% from the line for the course of the entire season. Only Larry Bird and Mark Price had achieved this feat at that time; only Steve Nash, Dirk Nowitzki, Kevin Durant, and Stephen Curry have achieved it since.
• The Denver Nuggets made NBA Playoff history by becoming the first eight-seed to defeat a one-seed in the first round of a playoff series when they defeated the Seattle SuperSonics 3 games to 2.
• The Indiana Pacers won their first NBA playoff series by sweeping the Orlando Magic, who were making their playoff debut. The Pacers would go on to their first Eastern Conference Finals, eventually losing to the New York Knicks in seven games.
• The New York Knicks came one game away from playing the maximum number of playoff contests. Had the New Jersey Nets captured one more victory over them in the first round, this would have been done as the Knicks played seven-game series in the next three rounds against the Bulls, Pacers, and Rockets. The Boston Celtics would later exceed the mark in 2008.
• This year's NBA Finals would be the last to go seven games until 2005. This was also the only year in which both the NBA Finals and the Stanley Cup Finals would go to seven games and involve teams from the same city.
• Neither the Los Angeles Lakers nor the Boston Celtics made the playoffs, making this the first season in NBA history (until 2014) that neither team had qualified.

New Uniforms

The Denver Nuggets and Milwaukee Bucks made major changes to their uniform set. The Bucks adopted a new color scheme with purple replacing red, while their uniforms featured taller B's and S's on the home and road jerseys. The Nuggets scrapped the rainbow skyline along with changing the color scheme to navy, red, and gold.

Standings

By division Atlantic Division W L PCT GB Home Road Div y-New York Knicks 57 25 .695 — 32–9 25–16 18–10 x-Orlando Magic 50 32 .610 7 31–10 19–22 20–8 x-New Jersey Nets 45 37 .549 12 29–12 16–25 17–11 x-Miami Heat 42 40 .512 15 22–19 20–21 16–12 Boston Celtics 32 50 .390 25 18–23 14–27 12–16 Philadelphia 76ers 25 57 .305 32 15–26 10–31 7–21 Washington Bullets 24 58 .293 33 17–24 7–34 8–20 Central Division W L PCT GB Home Road Div y-Atlanta Hawks 57 25 .695 – 36–5 21–20 21–7 x-Chicago Bulls 55 27 .671 2 31–10 24–17 21–7 x-Cleveland Cavaliers 47 35 .573 10 31–10 16–25 16–12 x-Indiana Pacers 47 35 .573 10 29–12 18–23 15–13 Charlotte Hornets 41 41 .500 16 28–13 13–28 12–16 Detroit Pistons 20 62 .244 37 10–31 10–31 4–24 Milwaukee Bucks 20 62 .244 37 11–30 9–32 9–19 Midwest Division W L PCT GB Home Road Div y-Houston Rockets 58 24 .707 — 35–6 23–18 15–11 x-San Antonio Spurs 55 27 .671 3 32–9 23–18 16–10 x-Utah Jazz 53 29 .646 5 33–8 20–21 21–5 x- Denver Nuggets 42 40 .512 16 28–13 14–27 14–12 Minnesota Timberwolves 20 62 .244 38 13–28 7–34 5–21 Dallas Mavericks 13 69 .159 45 6–35 7–34 7–19 Pacific Division W L PCT GB Home Road Div y-Seattle SuperSonics 63 19 .768 — 37–4 26–15 25–5 x-Phoenix Suns 56 26 .683 7 36–5 20–21 19–11 x-Golden State Warriors 50 32 .610 13 29–12 21–20 19–11 x-Portland Trail Blazers 47 35 .573 16 30–11 17–24 17–13 Los Angeles Lakers 33 49 .402 30 21–20 12–29 7–23 Sacramento Kings 28 54 .341 35 20–21 8–33 9–21 Los Angeles Clippers 27 55 .329 36 17–24 10–31 9–21 By conference # Eastern Conference Team W L PCT GB 1 c-Atlanta Hawks 57 25 .695 – 2 y-New York Knicks 57 25 .695 – 3 x-Chicago Bulls 55 27 .671 2 4 x-Orlando Magic 50 32 .610 7 5 x-Indiana Pacers 47 35 .573 10 6 x-Cleveland Cavaliers 47 35 .573 10 7 x-New Jersey Nets 45 37 .549 12 8 x-Miami Heat 42 40 .512 15 9 Charlotte Hornets 41 41 .500 16 10 Boston Celtics 32 50 .390 25 11 Philadelphia 76ers 25 57 .305 32 12 Washington Bullets 24 58 .293 33 13t Milwaukee Bucks 20 62 .244 37 13t Detroit Pistons 20 62 .244 37 # Western Conference Team W L PCT GB 1 z-Seattle SuperSonics 63 19 .768 – 2 y-Houston Rockets 58 24 .707 5 3 x-Phoenix Suns 56 26 .683 7 4 x-San Antonio Spurs 55 27 .671 8 5 x-Utah Jazz 53 29 .646 10 6 x- Golden State Warriors 50 32 .610 13 7 x-Portland Trail Blazers 47 35 .573 16 8 x-Denver Nuggets 42 40 .512 21 9 Los Angeles Lakers 33 49 .402 30 10 Sacramento Kings 28 54 .341 35 11 Los Angeles Clippers 27 55 .329 36 12 Minnesota Timberwolves 20 62 .244 43 13 Dallas Mavericks 13 69 .159 50 Notes z – Clinched home court advantage for the entire playoffs c – Clinched home court advantage for the conference playoffs y – Clinched division title x – Clinched playoff spot Playoffs Teams in bold advanced to the next round. The numbers to the left of each team indicate the team's seeding in its conference, and the numbers to the right indicate the number of games the team won in that round. The division champions are marked by an asterisk. Home court advantage does not necessarily belong to the higher-seeded team, but instead the team with the better regular season record; teams enjoying the home advantage are shown in italics. First Round Conference Semifinals Conference Finals NBA Finals                         1 Seattle 2 8 Denver 3 8 Denver 3 5 Utah 4 4 San Antonio 1 5 Utah 3 5 Utah 1 Western Conference 2 Houston 4 3 Phoenix 3 6 Golden State 0 3 Phoenix 3 2 Houston 4 2 Houston 3 7 Portland 1 W2 Houston 4 E2 New York 3 1 Atlanta 3 8 Miami 2 1 Atlanta 2 5 Indiana 4 4 Orlando 0 5 Indiana 3 5 Indiana 3 Eastern Conference 2 New York 4 3 Chicago 3 6 Cleveland 0 3 Chicago 3 2 New York 4 2 New York 3 7 New Jersey 1 Statistics leaders Category Player Team Stat Points per game David Robinson San Antonio Spurs 29.8 Rebounds per game Dennis Rodman San Antonio Spurs 17.3 Assists per game John Stockton Utah Jazz 12.6 Steals per game Nate McMillan Seattle SuperSonics 2.96 Blocks per game Dikembe Mutombo Denver Nuggets 4.10 FG% Shaquille O'Neal Orlando Magic .599 FT% Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf Denver Nuggets .956 3FG% Tracy Murray Portland Trail Blazers .459 NBA awards Most Valuable Player: Hakeem Olajuwon, Houston Rockets Rookie of the Year: Chris Webber, Golden State Warriors Defensive Player of the Year: Hakeem Olajuwon, Houston Rockets Sixth Man of the Year: Dell Curry, Charlotte Hornets Most Improved Player: Don MacLean, Washington Bullets Coach of the Year: Lenny Wilkens, Atlanta Hawks All-NBA First Team: F - Karl Malone, Utah Jazz F - Scottie Pippen, Chicago Bulls C - Hakeem Olajuwon, Houston Rockets G - John Stockton, Utah Jazz G - Latrell Sprewell, Golden State Warriors All-NBA Second Team: F - Shawn Kemp, Seattle SuperSonics F - Charles Barkley, Phoenix Suns C - David Robinson, San Antonio Spurs G - Mitch Richmond, Sacramento Kings G - Kevin Johnson, Phoenix Suns All-NBA Third Team: F - Derrick Coleman, New Jersey Nets F - Dominique Wilkins, Atlanta Hawks / Los Angeles Clippers C - Shaquille O'Neal, Orlando Magic G - Mark Price, Cleveland Cavaliers G - Gary Payton, Seattle SuperSonics NBA All-Defensive First Team: F - Charles Oakley, New York Knicks F - Scottie Pippen, Chicago Bulls C - Hakeem Olajuwon, Houston Rockets G - Mookie Blaylock, Atlanta Hawks G - Gary Payton, Seattle SuperSonics NBA All-Defensive Second Team: F - Dennis Rodman, San Antonio Spurs F - Horace Grant, Chicago Bulls C - David Robinson, San Antonio Spurs G - Latrell Sprewell, Golden State Warriors G - Nate McMillan, Seattle SuperSonics All-NBA Rookie First Team: Isaiah Rider, Minnesota Timberwolves Anfernee Hardaway, Orlando Magic Chris Webber, Golden State Warriors Jamal Mashburn, Dallas Mavericks Vin Baker, Milwaukee Bucks All-NBA Rookie Second Team: Dino Radja, Boston Celtics Toni Kukoc, Chicago Bulls Shawn Bradley, Philadelphia 76ers Lindsey Hunter, Detroit Pistons Nick Van Exel, Los Angeles Lakers Note: All information on this page were obtained on the History section on NBA.com References