In their bid to three-peat, the fifth-seeded Houston Rockets faced the Los Angeles Lakers in the first round of the 1996 playoffs. L.A. had won 22 of 32 games with Magic Johnson back in the lineup, who had returned to the court for the first time since the 1991 season to secure the fourth seed in the Western Conference.
Houston had immediately stolen homecourt advantage from the Lakers behind 33 points from Hakeem Olajuwon in Game 1, backing that up with a Game 3 win after dropping Game 2.
While, as usual, Olajuwon led the Rockets in scoring with 25, there were four others that finished in double figures in Game 4.