The 

Houston Rockets are an American professional basketball team based in Houston. The

Rockets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member team of the
league's Western Conference Southwest Division. The team plays its home games at the Toyota
Center, located in Downtown Houston. Throughout its history, Houston has won two NBA
championships and four Western Conference titles. It was established in 1967 as the San Diego
Rockets, an expansion team originally based in San Diego. In 1971, the Rockets relocated to
Houston.
The Rockets won only 15 games in their debut season as a franchise in 1967. In the 1968 NBA
draft, the Rockets were awarded the first overall pick and selected power forward Elvin Hayes, who
would lead the team to its first playoff appearance in his rookie season. The Rockets did not finish a
season with a winning record for almost a decade until the 1976–77 season, when they traded
for All-Star center Moses Malone. Malone went on to win the NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP)
award twice while playing with the Rockets and led Houston to the Eastern Conference Finals in his
first year with the team. During the 1980–81 season, the Rockets finished the regular season with a
40–42 record but still made the playoffs. Led by Malone, the Rockets reached their first NBA
Finals in 1981, becoming only the second team in NBA history to do so with a losing record. They
would lose in six games to the 62–20 Boston Celtics, led by Larry Bird, Robert Parish, and future
Rockets head coach Kevin McHale. As of 2021, the 1980–81 Rockets are the last team since
the 1954–55 Minneapolis Lakers to make it all the way to the NBA Finals with a losing record.
In the 1984 NBA draft, once again with the first overall pick, the Rockets drafted center Hakeem
Olajuwon, who would become the cornerstone of the most successful period in franchise history.
Paired with 7-foot-4-inch (2.24 m) Ralph Sampson, they formed one of the tallest front courts in the
NBA. Nicknamed the "Twin Towers", they led the team to the 1986 NBA Finals—the second NBA
Finals appearance in franchise history—where Houston was again defeated by Larry Bird and the
67-win Boston Celtics. The Rockets continued to reach the playoffs throughout the 1980s, but failed
to advance past the first round for several years following a second-round defeat to the Seattle
SuperSonics in 1987. Rudy Tomjanovich took over as head coach midway through the 1991–92
season, ushering in the most successful period in franchise history. Led by Olajuwon, the Rockets
dominated the 1993–94 season, setting a then-franchise record 58 wins and went to the 1994 NBA
Finals—the third NBA Finals appearance in franchise history—and won the franchise's first
championship against Patrick Ewing and the New York Knicks. During the following season,
reinforced by another All-Star, Clyde Drexler, the Rockets—in their fourth NBA Finals appearance in
franchise history—repeated as champions with a four-game sweep of the Orlando Magic, which was
led by a young Shaquille O'Neal and Penny Hardaway. Houston, which finished the season with a
47–35 record and was seeded sixth in the Western Conference during the 1995 playoffs, became
the lowest-seeded team in NBA history to win the title.
The Rockets acquired all-star power forward Charles Barkley in 1996, but the presence of three of
the NBA's 50 greatest players of all-time (Olajuwon, Drexler, and Barkley) was not enough to propel
Houston past the Western Conference Finals. Each one of the aging trio had left the team by 2001.
The Rockets of the early 2000s, led by superstars Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming, followed the trend
of consistent regular-season respectability followed by playoff underachievement as both players
struggled with injuries. After Yao's early retirement in 2011, the Rockets entered a period of
rebuilding, completely dismantling and retooling their roster.
The acquisition of franchise player James Harden in 2012 launched the Rockets back into perennial
championship contention throughout the rest of the 2010s, with zero losing seasons in Harden's
nine-season tenure with the team. Harden broke countless franchise and NBA records while on the
team, winning three consecutive scoring titles between 2018 and 2020, and leading the team to
two Western Conference Finals appearances (both times losing to the Golden State Warriors). Prior
to the 2020–21 season, head coach Mike D'Antoni and general manager Daryl Morey left the
organization, prompting Harden to seek a trade. He was traded to the Brooklyn Nets[A] which started
a rebuilding period.
Moses Malone, Hakeem Olajuwon, and James Harden have been named the NBA's MVPs while
playing for the Rockets, for a total of four MVP awards. The Rockets, when piloted by Morey, were
been renowned for popularizing the use of advanced statistical analytics (similar to sabermetrics in
baseball) in player acquisitions and style of play.

Franchise history
Main article: History of the Houston Rockets

1967–1971: San Diego Rockets

Elvin Hayes was selected first overall by the San Diego Rockets in the 1968 NBA draft

The Rockets were founded in 1967 in San Diego by Robert Breitbard, who paid an entry fee of
US$1.75 million to join the NBA as an expansion team for the 1967–68 season.[12][13] The NBA wanted
to add more teams in the Western United States and chose San Diego based on the city's strong
economic and population growth, along with the local success of an ice hockey team owned by
Breitbard, the San Diego Gulls of the Western Hockey League. The San Diego International Sports
Center, which opened the previous year and was also owned by Bretitbard, would serve as home to
the new franchise. A local contest to name the franchise chose the name "Rockets", as it paid
homage to San Diego's theme of "a city in motion" and the local arm of General
Dynamics developing the Atlas missile and booster rocket program.[12][14]
Breitbard brought in Jack McMahon, then-coach of the Cincinnati Royals, to serve as the Rockets'
coach and general manager.[14][15] The team, which would join the league along with the Seattle
SuperSonics, then built its roster with both veteran players at an expansion draft, and college
players from the 1967 NBA draft, where San Diego's first ever draft pick was Pat Riley.[14][16] In their
first two games of the season, the Rockets were up against the St. Louis Hawks, and lost both of
those games.[17][18] Their first win in franchise history came the very next game which occurred three
days after against the SuperSonics. The Rockets won on the road, 121–114. Johnny
Green recorded 30 points and 25 rebounds for the Rockets.[19] The following game, the SuperSonics
held a 15-point lead for most of the first half, before the Rockets mounted a comeback to force
overtime. The SuperSonics eventually pulled away and won the game, 117–110, though Art
Williams recorded the first ever triple-double in franchise history, as he recorded 17 points, 15
rebounds and 13 assists for the Rockets.[20] The expansion Rockets ultimately lost 67 games in their
inaugural season,[21] which was an NBA record for losses in a season at the time.[22]
In 1968, after the Rockets won a coin toss against the Baltimore Bullets to determine who would
have the first overall pick in the 1968 NBA draft,[23] they selected Elvin Hayes from the University of
Houston.[24] Hayes improved the Rockets' record to 37 wins and 45 losses, enough for the franchise's
first ever playoff appearance in 1969,[25] but the Rockets lost in the semi-finals of the Western
Division to the Atlanta Hawks, four games to two.[25] The Rockets limped to a 27–55 finish in
the 1969–70 season, before missing the playoffs by just one game in the 1970–71 season.[26][27]
Off the court, Breitbard was facing serious financial losses primarily due to a controversial ongoing
tax-assessment issue that had plagued his San Diego Sports Arena since it was built. He was also
meanwhile still also on the hook for paying off the NBA expansion fee for the Rockets, in addition to
construction-related bonds on the arena, which he had built with private funding. To make matters
worse, the American professional sports economy had begun to plummet in the late 1960s, and
professional basketball was being hit particularly hard with nearly all franchises in the NBA
and ABA operating at a financial loss at this time.[14]
On January 26, 1970, during an emotional press conference on the floor of the Sports Arena,
Breitbard addressed the San Diego fans regarding his dire finances and the state of his Rockets
basketball and Gulls hockey teams. "...We have been served an eviction notice..." Breitbard
announced. "I've tried to work quietly, to iron this out. But, at the moment it appears impossible. I
don't want to sell. I'm not interested in selling outside of San Diego. It seems to me the Rockets and
Gulls are part of this town. This arena, the Gulls, the Rockets, are a part of me, and our fans have
been wonderful to us."[14] Over the next nearly year and a half, numerous fans circulated petitions and
lobbied local officials to help keep the Rockets and Gulls afloat and in San Diego. Several proposals
surrounding providing financial aid or payment relief to Breitbard, or having the City and/or County of
San Diego take ownership of the arena were discussed, but Breitbard was running out of time. At
least 14 private offers for the Rockets were made to Breitbard, though all would have resulted in the
team being relocated out of San Diego, which Breitbard was adamantly opposed to.[14] The tax-
assessment situation surrounding the Sports Arena (which was the only large arena in the region)
ultimately made the prospect of another local owner purchasing the team infeasible.
On January 12, 1971, the Rockets hosted the 1971 NBA All-Star Game at the San Diego Sports
Arena, a close contest in which the West beat the East 108–107 in front of a packed house of
14,378 fans.
On June 23, 1971, the San Diego Rockets were abruptly sold by Breitbard to a Houston-based
investment group. The NBA hurriedly approved the sale, believing the franchise was on the verge of
folding. News of the sale broke before the coaches, players, and team employees and executives
could even be notified. Local officials in San Diego were also caught by surprise.[26]
In their fourth and final season in existence, the San Diego Rockets missed the playoffs by just one
game in the standings and finished in the top ten in the NBA in home attendance.[26][27]

1971–1976: Move to Houston and improvement with Murphy and

Rudy-T
Texas Sports Investments bought the franchise for $5.6 million and moved the team
to Houston before the start of the 1971–72 season.[12] The franchise became the first NBA team in
Texas,[28] and the nickname "Rockets" took on even greater relevance after the move, given
Houston's long connection to the space industry.[29]
Before the start of the season, Hannum left for the Denver Rockets of the American Basketball
Association – later renamed Denver Nuggets, who joined the NBA in 1976 –[30] and Tex Winter was
hired in his place.[31] In the first six games of the 1971–72 season in Winter's first head coaching
season, the Rockets all lost those games with an average of around 15 points per game. Their first
win of the season came on October 26, 1971, with a 104–103 win over the home team, Detroit
Pistons.[32] Their second win of the season came five days later, a 102–87 win over the Buffalo
Braves.[33] After that game, the Rockets lost their next 8 games, against the Knicks, Trail Blazers,
Bullets (twice), Warriors, Celtics, Bucks and Bulls. Their next win was on November 17 on the road
against the 76ers.[34] However, Winter's clashes with Hayes, due to a system that contrasted with the
offensive style to which Hayes was accustomed, made Hayes ask for a trade, leaving for
the Baltimore Bullets at the end of the 1971–72 season.[35]
It was also around this time that the Rockets would unveil their classic yellow and red logo and
accompanying uniforms used until the end of the 1994–95 season.[13] Winter left soon after, being
fired in January 1973 following a ten-game losing streak, and was replaced by Johnny Egan.[36] Egan
led the Rockets back to the playoffs in 1975, where the franchise also won their first round against
the New York Knicks, subsequently losing to the veteran Boston Celtics in 5 games. At that time the
Rockets gained popularity in Houston, selling out several home games during the regular season as
the Rockets battled for a playoff spot and then selling out all of their home playoff games.[37]

1976–1982: The Moses Malone era

In the 1975–76 season the Rockets finally had a permanent home in Houston as they moved
into The Summit, which they would call home for the next 29 years. During the period, the franchise
was owned by Kenneth Schnitzer, developer of the Greenway Plaza which included The Summit.
[38]
 After missing the 1976 playoffs, Tom Nissalke was hired as a coach, and pressed the team to add
a play-making guard in college standout John Lucas and a rebounding center through Moses
Malone, who he had coached in the ABA.[39] The additions had an immediate impact, with the 1976–
77 Rockets winning the Central Division and going all the way to the Eastern Conference Finals,
losing to the Julius Erving's Philadelphia 76ers 4 games to 2.[40] The following season had the team
regressing to just 28 wins due to an injury to captain Tomjanovich, who got numerous facial fractures
after being punched by Kermit Washington of the Los Angeles Lakers and wound up spending five
months in rehabilitation.[41][42][43] After trading Lucas to the Golden State Warriors in exchange for Rick
Barry,[44] the Rockets returned to the playoffs in 1978–79, with "The Chairman Of The Boards" Moses
Malone receiving the 1979 MVP Award,[45] but the team was swept 2–0 by Atlanta in the first round.
[46]
 Nissalke was let go, and assistant Del Harris was promoted to head coach.[47]
In 1979, George Maloof, a businessperson from Albuquerque, New Mexico, bought the Rockets for
$9 million. He died the following year, and while the Maloof family expressed interest in selling the
team, George's 24-year-old son Gavin took over the Rockets. A buyer was eventually found in 1982
as businessman Charlie Thomas and Sidney Shlenker purchased the franchise for $11 million; the
Maloofs would later own the Sacramento Kings from 1998 to 2013. The Maloof period of ownership
marked the first dominant period of the Rockets,[48][49][50] highlighted by the team's first Western
Conference Championship and NBA Finals appearance in 1981, their first year after being moved
from the Eastern Conference. Prior to the 1980–81 season, the arrival of the Dallas Mavericks led to
an NBA realignment that sent the Rockets back to the Western Conference.[51] Houston qualified for
the playoffs only in the final game of the season with a 40–42 record.[52] The postseason had the
Rockets beat the Lakers, in-state rivals San Antonio Spurs, and the equally underdog Kansas City
Kings to become only the second team in NBA history (after the 1959 Minneapolis Lakers) to have
advanced to the Finals after achieving a losing record in the regular season.[53] In the NBA
Finals facing Larry Bird's Boston Celtics, the Rockets blew a late lead in Game 1 and won Game 2 at
the Boston Garden. However, afterwards the team failed to capitalize on the early success against
the favored Celtics, and eventually lost in six games.[54]
While new owner Charlie Thomas expressed interest in renewing with Moses Malone,[49] who had
been again chosen as MVP in 1981–82,[45] the Rockets traded him to the Philadelphia
76ers for Caldwell Jones, as a declining regional economy made the Rockets unable to pay
Malone's salary.[55] When the Rockets finished a league worst 14–68,[56] Celtics coach Bill Fitch was
hired to replace outgoing Del Harris,[55] and the team won the first pick of the 1983 NBA draft,[55] used
to select Ralph Sampson from the University of Virginia.[57] Sampson had good numbers and was
awarded the NBA Rookie of the Year award,[58] but the Rockets still finished last overall, again getting
the top pick at the upcoming 1984 NBA draft, used to select Hakeem Olajuwon from the University of
Houston.[59]

1984–2001: The Hakeem Olajuwon era

1984–1987: The "Twin Towers"
In his first season, Olajuwon finished second to Michael Jordan in NBA Rookie of the Year balloting,
[60]
 and the Rockets record improved by 19 games, good enough for a return to the playoffs as the
third best team in the West, where they were upset by the sixth-seeded Utah Jazz.[61] The duo of
Olajuwon and Sampson earned much praise, and was nicknamed "Twin Towers".[62] In the following
season, Houston won the Midwest Division title with a 51–31 record. The subsequent playoffs had
the Rockets sweeping the Sacramento Kings, having a hard-fought six-game series with Alex
English's Denver Nuggets, and then facing defending champion Lakers, losing the first game but
eventually managing to win the series – the only Western Playoffs defeat of the Showtime Lakers –
to get to the franchise's second Finals appearance.[63] The NBA Finals once again matched the
Rockets up against the Celtics, a contrast to Houston's young front challenging the playoff-hardened
Celtics front court of Larry Bird, Kevin McHale and Robert Parish. The Celtics won the first two
games in Boston, gave the Rockets their only home playoff defeat that season in game 4, and
clinched the title as Bird scored a triple-double on Game 6.[63][64]

A ticket for Game 2 of the 1987 Western Conference Semifinals between the Rockets and the Seattle
SuperSonics

After the Finals, Boston coach K. C. Jones called the Rockets "the new monsters on the block"
feeling they had a bright future. But the team had a poor start to the following season, followed by
nearly a decade of underachievement and failure, amidst players getting injured or suspended for
cocaine usage, and during the playoffs were defeated in the second round by the Seattle
SuperSonics in six games, with the final game being a double-overtime classic that saw Olajuwon
notching 49 points, 25 rebounds and 6 blocks in defeat. Early in the 1987–88 season, Sampson,
who had signed a new contract, was traded to the Golden State Warriors, bringing the Twin Towers
era to an end just 18 months after their Finals appearance.[65] Sampson's once-promising career was
shortened due to chronic knee injuries, which forced his retirement in 1991. Jones' prophecy of a
Rockets dynasty never materialized until the early 1990s.[66]
1987–1992: Lean years
In the next five seasons, the Rockets either failed to qualify for the playoffs or were eliminated in the
first round.[67][68][69] The first elimination in 1988 led to Fitch's dismissal, with Don Chaney replacing him
as head coach.[70] Chaney, like Olajuwon, also played for the Houston Cougars under Guy Lewis,
having played along Elvin Hayes in the late 1960s. Chaney had his best season during 1990–91,
where he was named the Coach of the Year after leading the Rockets to a 52–30 record despite
Olajuwon's absence due to injury for 25 games.[70][71] Despite Olajuwon's usual strong numbers, the
underwhelming roster could not be lifted out of mediocrity. However, the attempts to rebuild the team
nucleus incorporated players that would later make an impact in the years to come, such as Kenny
Smith, Vernon Maxwell, Robert Horry, Mario Elie, Sam Cassell and Otis Thorpe.[72]

Rudy Tomjanovich spent all his playing career with the Rockets, and after becoming the team's head coach in
1992 led Houston to two straight championships.
Midway through the 1991–92 season, with the Rockets' record only 26–26, Chaney was fired and
replaced by his assistant Rudy Tomjanovich, a former Houston player himself.[73] While the Rockets
did not make the playoffs,[74] Tomjanovich's arrival was considered a step forward. In the next year,
the Rockets improved their record by 13 games, getting the Midwest Division title, and winning their
first playoff series in 6 years by defeating the Los Angeles Clippers, before an elimination by the
SuperSonics in a closely contested Game 7 overtime loss.[75]
1993–1995: Back-to-Back Championships for Clutch City
On July 30, 1993, Leslie Alexander purchased the Rockets for $85 million.[76] Following the bitter
Game 7 loss in Seattle in overtime, Olajuwon gathered the team and famously stated "we go from
here".[citation needed] The next season, in Tomjanovich's second full year as head coach, the Rockets
began the 1993–94 season by tying an NBA record with a start of 15–0.[77][78] Their first loss of the
season came on December 3, 1993, as the Hawks, led by Dominique Wilkins' 27 points, defeated
the Rockets, 133–111.[79] The next game, the Rockets stormed a comeback against the Cleveland
Cavaliers as they won by a single point, 99–98, on the road. The Rockets now had won their first 16
out of 17 games of the season, tying the 1948–49 Capitols for the best 17-game start in a season, at
that time.[80] On December 9, Olajuwon recorded 28 points, 16 rebounds and 4 blocks as the Rockets
cruised past the visiting Heat in overtime to win their 18th game of the season.[81] Led by Olajuwon,
who was named the MVP and Defensive Player of the Year,[82] the Rockets won 58 games, a
franchise record at the time.[83][84] After quickly dispatching the Portland Trail Blazers (who had made
the finals just two years prior) in 4 games, they then faced the defending Western Conference
champion