After winning two straight championships, the Houston Rockets aimed for a rare three-peat in the 1995-96 season. With Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler leading the way, they were still the team to beat. However, Michael Jordan’s return to the Chicago Bulls after his baseball stint made the road to their third title much more challenging.
The Bulls were on a redemption run that season and the Rockets got a taste of that when both teams clashed in January 1996. Despite suffering a 98-87 loss, Olajuwon remained confident that they had what it took to topple Jordan and the Bulls in a potential Finals showdown.
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“I’m not angry, I’m disappointed. We know we’re good enough to beat them; it’s really frustrating. The bottom line is they beat us and we’ll have to postpone the fight for another day,” he said via UPI.
Matching up well with the Bulls
Olajuwon’s optimism was grounded in reality. After all, Chicago always had an issue containing Hakeem and the 1995-96 season was no different.
“When I was with the Rockets, I think we were like 7-1, or 6-2, something like that. It was favorable for us… The Bulls never had anybody that could guard Hakeem Olajuwon,” former Rockets forward Robert Horry recalled.
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While Horry’s claims may have held some truth, other factors didn’t work in Houston’s favor. Drexler struggled with injuries that season, leaving Olajuwon to do most of the work. Jordan, meanwhile, was bent on bringing the Bulls back on top that year after the Orlando Bulls swept them in the 1995 playoffs — No. 23 returned for the last 17 games of the regular season and wasn’t his usual dominant self in the postseason.
With the Bulls aiming for no less than the NBA championship, their regular-season run was a sign of things to come. The trio of Jordan, Scottie Pippen and Dennis Rodman proved too much to handle for the entire league, leading the team to a record-breaking 72 wins.
The playoffs were no different. Eighteen games later, they were crowned the champions.
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Second-round exit
The Rockets’ three-peat bid seemed well within reach until Jordan rediscovered his love for the game and set his sights on bringing more championships to the Windy City.
Still, they could’ve at least given the Bulls a proper challenge in the championship series. However, their title hopes were shattered by the Seattle SuperSonics in the Western Conference semifinals. The loss was a sign that they were a team on the decline. After all, if the Rockets truly had the talent to frustrate the Bulls, getting past other teams should have been their prerequisite to fulfilling a three-peat.
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The Sonics ultimately made the Finals but lost to the Bulls in six games, with Jordan winning the Finals MVP — he averaged 27.3 points, 5.3 rebounds and 4.2 assists. The power shifted back to the Windy City.
The Bulls were too good a team to bring down. Thus, they started their own chase for a three-peat. But unlike the Rockets, they were able to complete theirs, cementing themselves as arguably the greatest dynasty in NBA history, winning six championships in eight years.
This story was originally reported by Basketball Network on Sep 6, 2025, where it first appeared in the Old School section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.