THE NBA / MARK HEISLER : NBA FINALS : Why Not? Rockets Have All of the Right Answers

ORLANDO, Fla. — At least, the Orlando Magic players got the answer to the questions in their new slogan, “Why not us? Why not now?” The multiple choices:

(a) You’re not ready yet.

(b) Hakeem Olajuwon.

(c) Kenny Smith.

(d) Sam Cassell.

(e) All of the above.

It was (e) and more, the Houston Rockets, who are now halfway to their destiny and going home to seek it after Friday night’s 117-106 victory that put them up, 2-0, in the NBA finals.

The Rockets have won seven road playoff games in a row. The Magic, the NBA’s top home team with a 46-4 record when the finals started, is 46-6. The irresistible force has just moved the immovable object.

The immovable object is now . . . twitching.

“The first game we won was very important,” Olajuwon said. “It put a lot of pressure on them to win this game, and the way they responded, especially when they were turning the ball over, I thought they panicked for a second.”

Teammate Mario Elie said: “Penny Hardaway and Shaquille [O’Neal] were ready to play. The other guys, I don’t know.”

The other guys, no. At least not Nick Anderson, still shaky after his Game 1 pratfall.

Not Dennis Scott, either. The chunky sharpshooter, who had been blazing away through the postseason, whose three-point shots had made the Magic impossible to defend against, iced up.

Anderson, who had proved his grace under pressure during interviews on the off-day, came out Friday to see fans carrying signs such as, “Yell If U Love Nick.”

He got the loudest ovation in pregame introductions. Then, in an atmosphere of support and caring, he caved in again, missing eight of his first nine shots.

At halftime, O’Neal and Hardaway had 26 points, the other Magicians a total of 15, and the Rockets were up by an astonishing 63-41.

A big lead too early in an NBA game is supposed to be trouble, but the Rockets are making their own rules this spring. A 10-0 Magic run cut it to 84-71 late in the third quarter, but Houston’s cold-blooded Sam (I Am) Cassell closed it out with a three-point shot and a short running jumper, and the Magic fell back a respectful distance.

Cassell, the backup point guard, scored 31 points for the third time this postseason.

In Game 1 of this series, he and Kenny Smith combined for 27 points--23 for Smith, four for Cassell.

In Game 2, they combined for 31--zero for Smith, 31 for Cassell.

Is there anyone left out there who doubts that this is the Rockets’ year?

“I don’t get any attention,” Cassell said. “All the focus is on Hakeem and Clyde [Drexler]. I just go in there and try to steal some of the spotlight.

“I’m not doing anything outrageous. I’m not trying to dunk over Shaq. I’m just doing what I can do, penetrate and take the shot when nobody expects me to.”

Sam I Am had many surprises. Late in the game when Olajuwon missed two free throws, Cassell waved a towel, yelled at him and later got in his face--chest, anyway--and bawled him out. After what Hakeem has done this postseason, Cassell should have to hold his hand up to be recognized before he dares speak to him, but you know kids these days.

“At that point in time, we needed the points,” Cassell said, grinning. “He missed two free throws. He would have told me, so I told him.”

They won going away. Once this was an impossible dream. Now it looks like their destiny.

Robert Horry has said he feels like a puppet in a script, incapable of failing. Olajuwon has called it “God’s will.”

Elie said: “Every game that goes by, this team plays better and better. We’ve fought too long and dug ourselves out of too many holes to come up here and be satisfied with just being in the finals.”

As for the Magic, it could be a case of a defective slogan.

“Why not us, why not now?” came from team owner Rich DeVos, although he didn’t make it up. Wondering where it came from, DeVos asked his staff to research it. He learned it had been found in the diary of a missionary working in the Amazon.

Someone asked a couple of days ago what became of the missionary.

Said DeVos: “He was murdered.”