Among the NBA championship teams, who has the lowest ranking in the regular season, the real "dark horse"

Among the NBA championship teams, the Rockets ranked the lowest in the regular season, ranked 6th in the Western Conference in the regular season, but eventually won the championship. In the 1994-1995 season, the defending champion performed poorly in the regular season, only 47 wins and 35 losses, ranking 6th in the Western Conference, barely entering the playoffs.

Their opponent is the third-ranked Jazz in the West in the first round of the playoffs.

The Rockets lost 100-102 in the first game, and then 2-4 games, the Rockets won, the Jazz won, and the Rockets won. The two sides entered a life-and-death battle. At that time, the first round was still a 3-win system of 5 games.

In the 5th game, the Rockets made a big comeback in the fourth quarter, narrowly defeating the Jazz 95-91, staged a Miracle of Black 6. Below the score, Olajuwon and Drexler scored 64 points and 20 rebounds together. In the second round of the playoffs, their opponent is the second-ranked Suns in the West.

The Rockets ended in a crushing defeat in the first two away games, losing 44 points in total. The Rockets lost 100-104 in the fourth game and fell behind 1-3.

In the fifth game, they narrowly won 103-97 away, and defeated the Suns 116-103 in the sixth game, dragging the game into the tiebreak. In the tiebreak battle, the Rockets started the game with a bad start and fell behind by 13 points in the first quarter, but they chased them tenaciously and fought to the last moment. In the end, the Rockets narrowly won 115-114 and advanced to the Western Conference Finals. Kevin Johnson scored 46 points and 10 assists, while Rockets Cassel became the substitute surprise and scored 18 points and 7 assists.

In the last moment, Eli made a three-pointer and the Rockets led the Suns 113-110, and finally won 115-114. In the Western Conference Finals, the Rockets' opponent is the No. 1 Spurs in the West.

The Rockets turned the trend, narrowly defeated 1 point in the first game 94-93, and won again in the second game, leading 2-0 away. Although the Spurs equalized the big score with two consecutive away wins, the Rockets won the game away again, and finally won the victory at home in the sixth game and advanced to the finals.

In this round of series, the Spurs won 0 and 3 at home, and the Rockets won 1 and 2 at home, and the home advantage is meaningless. In the finals, the Rockets' opponent is the magic of playing the finals for the first time.

At the last moment of the first game, the Magic missed 4 free throws, allowing the Rockets to equalize the score and drag the game into overtime. In the end, they narrowly won 120-118. This game also made the Magic completely lose confidence and slump, and finally suffered a sweep from the Rockets 0-4.

The young O'Neal just watched Olajuwon achieve two consecutive championships, winning the championship trophy and FMVP in a row.

And the Rockets' championship this time is also full of gold and is the real Black 6 miracle.

In the West, they defeated third place in the West, second place in the West and first place in the West, and were in better shape every time, from narrowly winning the life and death battle in the first two rounds, to the end of 6 games in the Western Conference Finals to the sweep of the finals.

The Magic were also the No. 1 team in the East back then. Among the opponents defeated by the Rockets, none of them were weak teams.

And a famous saying was born at that time - don't underestimate the heart of a champion.

In NBA history, teams ranked first, second, third and fourth in the regular season have won championships, while only one team in the second half of the year did it, that is the Rockets in 1995! Apart from that, all 5ths have never won the championship, and all 7ths and 8ths are the same.

There were two teams ranked 8 to reach the finals, but they both missed the championship, namely the Knicks in 1999 and the Heat in 2023.