<< 1993-94 Los Angeles Lakers | 1995-96 Los Angeles Lakers >>
James Worthy was officially retired, but that didn’t stop the 1994-95 Los Angeles Lakers from thriving as their extremely young roster all took leaps to the next level. Nick Van Exel, Vlade Divac, Cedric Ceballos, and Eddie Jones looked to be a strong core moving towards the future, as L.A. went 48-34 and secured the No. 5 seed.
In the first round of the playoffs, they would defeat the Seattle SuperSonics to set up a Western Conference semifinals matchup with the San Antonio Spurs. Their season would end there, losing to the Spurs in six games. The Houston Rockets would make it to the Finals for the second straight year out of the west.
In the Eastern Conference, Michael Jordan made a miraculous return midway through the season, but did not have his conditioning back to get the Chicago Bulls back to the Finals. They lost in the second round to the eventual winners of the conference, the Orlando Magic.
In the Finals, the Magic and Rockets would meet, with a young Shaquille O’Neal getting his first chance at a championship. He would fall short, as Hakeem Olajuwan would lead the Rockets to a second straight title.
Roster
NBA regular season statistics
NBA regular season schedule and results
NBA playoffs statistics
NBA playoffs schedule and results
