NBA FINALS : Two-Ring Circus Hits Houston : Pro basketball: Olajuwon (who else?) is MVP again after leading Rockets to sweep of Magic.

The improbable had already given way to probably in the days leading up, but when the end to their magical run finally came Wednesday night, when the Houston Rockets completed the four-game sweep of the Orlando Magic for the NBA title, the shock value still seemed so wonderful.

Rockets 113, Magic 101, before 16,611 at the Summit for the back-to-back championships. Hakeem Olajuwon, 35 points, 15 rebounds and a second consecutive selection as the most valuable player in the finals, joining Michael Jordan as the only other player with such a feat. Those were the numbers. Except that this was not about numbers.

“I don’t have the vocabulary to describe how I feel about this team,” Coach Rudy Tomjanovich said. “About their character. About their guts. No one in the history of this league has done what this team has done.

“This is a special team. All that stuff we heard coming into the season about lack of respect, if those days aren’t over, something’s wrong. We beat the No. 1, No. 2, No. 3 and No. 4 teams in the league. I couldn’t be prouder.

“You can’t take anything away from last year’s team. But this year, with a new team, we did what no one had ever done before, winning as a sixth seed. We won nine road games. And there were non-believers all along the way. What I’d like to say to the non-believers is never underestimate the heart of a champion.”

Especially not this one. All the Rockets did was limp into the playoffs, then dance on the graves of the Utah Jazz, Phoenix Suns and San Antonio Spurs, the top three teams in the West, to reach the finals. They were never the favorites and never had the home-court advantage.

Once to the championship series, they came from 20 points down in Game 1 on the road to win in overtime. Next, they completed the sweep in Orlando, leaving more than the locals stunned, then returned home and won Sunday. A two-day buildup preceded the clincher, and fans rushed hardware stores to buy brooms.

The Rockets trailed in the fourth quarter in two of the four games and won both times, which defines the entire white-knuckler ride their unlikely playoff run had become. Wednesday, the Magic got as close as two in the final quarter, 80-78, and it was a three-point game at 90-87 with six minutes left.

Next stop: immortality.

From there, the Rockets put together an 11-2 rally to put the game, and the season, away for good. Those looking for another sign found it in Olajuwon’s for-the-heck-of-it three-point basket directly in front of the Magic bench with 11.5 seconds remaining.

“I knew right then it was going to be our championship,” forward Robert Horry said.

It took him that long?

When the clock hit 0:00, Olajuwon and Shaquille O’Neal embraced, and Clyde Drexler, Mario Elie and Tracy Murray hugged. Fireworks went off inside the building and confetti dropped from the ceiling. Sam Cassell--two years in the NBA, two championship rings--held up an advance copy of today’s Houston Chronicle with the headline TWO-RRIFIC!!

The fun was just beginning.

Inside, a few minutes later, Kenny Smith rushed the interview podium and blindsided Drexler with a champagne shower, knocking Drexler to the floor.

Olajuwon, whose 131 points broke the finals record for scoring in a four-game series, took a seat next to Drexler and, in reference to their stunning championship loss to North Carolina State as teammates at the University of Houston, said in a low voice: “Finally.”

Phi Slamma Jamma, the post-graduate years. You mean all college reunions aren’t like this?

“It was something that was great to behold,” Drexler said of the playoff run that included surviving elimination five times. “And great to be apart of.”

The Rockets became only the sixth team to sweep in the finals and the first since Detroit dumped the injury-riddled Lakers in 1989. By going from 47-35 in the regular season, only 10th best in the league, they became the third-worst team by percentage to earn a title. The only champion since the 1960s with fewer victories was Washington, at 44-38 in 1977-78.

The Magic, reaching for something productive to come out of this disaster, said it took solace in getting here. For effect, players and coaches huddled on the court amid the celebration to remember what the moment felt like, not to retain the frustration for next season, but to see how good it can feel to win.

“We lost,” Anfernee Hardaway said. “Plan and simple. We lost. They were the better team.”

Finally, somebody besides the Rockets had said it.

“Every team we beat could be the champion of this league,” Tomjanovich said. “They are all that good. And that’s why I say the lack of respect for the Houston Rockets has got to stop.”

Here and now.