Final Four: ’15 Harden vs. ’19 Harden / ’18 Harden vs. ’94 Olajuwon
The 16-season bracket is now down to four. With first- and second-round voting complete, we’re moving on to the “Final Four” in our special series examining the greatest seasons in Houston Rockets history.
To no surprise, the franchise’s most recent NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP) winners — Hakeem Olajuwon and James Harden — comprise all four of the finalists. Harden knocked off Moses Malone, who is the only other Rockets player to have won MVP, in a pair of Elite Eight matchups.
But of those legends, who had the most dominant season of all? And when? That’s for you, our Rockets Wire readers, to decide.
As a refresher, in an effort to be as neutral as possible, the seedings are ranked by Win Shares on Basketball Reference. Those are based on statistics during each regular season, rather than the playoffs. However, if you’d like to add playoff performance in that year to your criteria, that’s absolutely your prerogative as a voter. With that, let’s get to the voting!
“Final Four” voting will continue through Wednesday night, May 6.
Final Four: ’15 Harden vs. ’19 Harden / ’18 Harden vs. ’94 Olajuwon
Final Four: 2014-15 James Harden vs. 2018-19 James Harden
No. 1 seed: 2014-15 James Harden: 27.4 points (44.0% FG, 37.5% 3-pointers), 7.0 assists, 5.7 rebounds, 1.9 steals per game
Harden’s 2014-15 season is perhaps best remembered for how he picked up the slack for issues around him. Co-star Dwight Howard missed 41 games in the regular season, and starters Pat Beverley and Donatas Motiejunas each had their seasons end early due to injury. Veteran castoffs like Pablo Prigioni and Jason Terry were thrust into key roles.
Nonetheless, largely due to Harden’s leadership, the often shorthanded Rockets still went 56-26 in the regular season and earned the No. 2 seed in the West. They won Houston’s first division title in 21 years, and then advanced in the playoffs to the franchise’s first Western Conference Finals in 18 years. Harden posted 4.2 defensive win shares that year, which remains the most of his career, and his 61.8% true shooting percentage is the second-highest of Harden’s eight seasons in Houston.
After the 2014-15 season concluded, “The Beard” was voted by fellow NBA players as the league’s MVP.
No. 5 seed: 2018-19 James Harden: 36.1 points (44.2% FG, 36.8% 3-pointers), 7.5 assists, 6.6 rebounds, 2.0 steals per game
Fresh off the winningest season in franchise history and coming up just one game short of the NBA Finals, the 2018-19 Rockets entered the year with championship expectations. They then got off to a rocky 11-14 start and lost co-star Chris Paul to a Grade 2 hamstring pull, leaving some to wonder if they’d even make the playoffs at all.
Harden wasn’t interested in that talk. His 36.1 points per game scoring average was a personal career-best and the most by any NBA player in over 30 years. Harden registered a historic streak of 32 straight games scoring 30 or more points, which took place largely during Paul’s absence. That remains the second-longest such streak in NBA history, and 2018-19 is remembered as Harden’s peak scoring season — at least so far.
Harden’s 36.8% clip on 3-pointers was especially impressive, considering his NBA-record volume of 12.9 attempts per game from behind the arc. (That, of course, reflects Houston’s increasingly 3-point heavy attack endorsed by head coach Mike D’Antoni and GM Daryl Morey.)
Houston finished the season 42-15 over its final 57 regular-season games, helping lift them from the West’s No. 14 seed at their lowest point to the No. 4 seed (and almost the No. 2). They lost in six games in the second round of the playoffs to eventual West champion Golden State, and Harden finished second in MVP voting to Giannis Antetokounmpo.
Final Four: ’15 Harden vs. ’19 Harden / ’18 Harden vs. ’94 Olajuwon
Final Four: 2017-18 James Harden vs. 1993-94 Hakeem Olajuwon
No. 3 seed: 2017-18 James Harden: 30.4 points (44.9% FG, 36.7% 3-pointers), 8.8 assists, 5.4 rebounds, 1.8 steals per game
This was Harden’s lone MVP season as voted on by media, and it was also the most successful Rockets season by record (65-17) in franchise history. His new partnership with Chris Paul paid immediate dividends, and the Rockets cruised to the West’s No. 1 seed in the regular season.
While Harden’s win shares for the season are below his 2014-15 campaign, that’s primarily because he missed 10 games with minor injuries in 2017-18. Adjusted for minutes played (WS/48), 2017-18 remains the top individual season of Harden’s NBA career, and his 61.9% true shooting percentage is the best of his eight seasons in Houston.
In the playoffs, the 2017-18 Rockets appeared poised to knock off defending champion Golden State and secure the franchise’s first NBA crown in over 20 years… right up until Paul’s hamstring went out late in Game 5 of the Western Conference Finals, with Houston up 3-2 in the series. The Warriors rallied to win the series after Paul’s exit, but that season clearly showed that the Harden-led Rockets could win a title.
No. 7 seed: 1993-94 Hakeem Olajuwon: 27.3 points (52.8% FG), 11.9 rebounds, 3.7 blocks, 3.6 assists, 1.6 steals per game
After losing a hard-fought road Game 7 in overtime in the 1992 NBA playoffs to Seattle, the Rockets knew they were capable of winning a title. Led by Olajuwon, they made a big statement as to their readiness with a 15-0 start to 1993-94, which was tied at the time for the longest unbeaten streak in NBA history to begin a season. They finished at 58-24, representing what was then the most wins in one season in team history.
Olajuwon’s 27.3 points per game average was the second-most of his Hall of Fame career, and he did it with strong durability at 80 games played. Most important, of course, is that the big man’s production fully carried over into the playoffs. “The Dream” led the NBA in playoff scoring at 28.9 points per game, and his Rockets went on to win the franchise’s first NBA championship in June 1994.
Olajuwon was awarded the NBA’s regular-season MVP in 1994 for the first and only time of his 18-year career, and he also won the NBA Finals MVP award — which he did again in 1995, as Houston took its second title.
Final Four: ’15 Harden vs. ’19 Harden / ’18 Harden vs. ’94 Olajuwon
