Houston Rockets | NBA, basketball, history and notable players

Houston RocketsAmerican Professional basketball team based in Houes. The Rockets won two National Basketball Association (NBA) Championships (1994 and 1995) and four Westerners Conference securities.

The team was founded under the name of San Diego Rockets in 1967 and moved to Houston in 1971 after four losing seasons. The first Rockets teams were led by a pair of future families in the renowned temple –Elvin Hayeswho had played for the University of Houstonand the diminutive Calvin Murphy – as well as by Rudy Tomjanovich, who would later lead the Rockets for 12 seasons. Houston exchanged for Elite Center Moses Malone Two games in the 1976-1977 season, and that year, the Rockets posted the first winning season in the history of the franchise and qualified for the conference final. Roquettes exceeds This feat during the 1980-1981 season when – after having finished the regular season with an unaccompressing record of 40 wins and 42 defeats – Houston amassed three series of overwhelming series on the road to a berth in the NBA final, where they lost against the Boston Celtics. Malone left the team in 1982 and the Rockets fell on the lower level of the NBA in its absence.

In 1984, the Rockets drafted Hakeem OlajuwonAnother future center of the fame of fame (and another former student of the University of Houston), which quickly became the face of the franchise. Olajuwon joined another imposing post player, Ralph Sampson (both at more than 7 feet (2.13 meters) in height), to lead the Rockets to another appearance of the NBA final in 1986, in which they were again defeated by the Celtics. The Rockets continued to qualify for the playoffs throughout the 1980s, but they failed to pass the second round of the playoffs for the rest of the decade. Tomjanovich resumed the functions of head coach in the middle of the 1991-1992 season, inauguration In the most successful period in the history of the franchise. Houston won consecutive NBA titles in the 1993-1994 and 1994-1995 seasons behind the inspired game of Olajuwon and the key contributions of the guard Sam Cassell, before Robert Horry and (for the 1994-1995 season) Clyde Drexler (Yet another former star of the University of Houston).

The team added Charles Barkley In 1996, but the presence of three of the 50 largest players in the NBA of all time (Olajowon, Drexler and Barkley) was not enough to propel Houston after the Western Conference final. Each of the aging trio had left the team in 2001, and the rockets of the beginning of the 21st century, led by superstars Tracy MCGRADY and 7 feet 6 inches (2.29 meters) Yao Ming Since Chinafollowed the trend of constant respectability of the regular season, followed by the playoffs. McGrady was exchanged in 2010; Yao retired in 2011, after missing a large part of the previous two seasons with injuries; And the Rockets began a reconstruction process.

During its reconstruction, the team was remarkable for its dependence on advanced statistical analyzes (similar to sabermetry in baseball) in its acquisitions of players. A result of the team particular The development approach was that the Rockets won a place in the playoff series in 2012-2013 with the youngest list of the NBA, including the exceptional shooting James Harden. The team signed Star Center Dwight Howard During the following off -season, the Rockets improved the record for the previous season and was once again addressed to the playoffs.

In 2014-2015, the team published its best record (56-26) since the Olajuwon era and qualified for the Western Conference final, where Houston lost against the Golden State Warriors. The team experienced a slow start the following season – which led to a change of coach at the start of the season, but the new coach diet Impossible to solve the problems of chemistry and effort that tormented the rockets. Houston qualified for the playoffs as the eighth seeded that year with a file from 41 to 41 years old and was quickly eliminated in the first round in five games. This led to another change of off -season coach, and the new Chef Mike d’Antoni installed his high -efficiency offensive and his rapid attack with Harden as a leader. Consequently, the Rockets set an NBA record with 1,181 three-point shots made during the 2016-2017 season on a campaign of 55 victories and a defeat in the playoffs in the second round.

The team added the star leader Chris Paul during the offseason, and he helped propel The Rockets to New Heights in 2017-2018, while the team set a new franchise record for regular season victories (65) and broke its own league record for three-point shots (1256). Houston qualified for the conference final, but a people’s injury to Paul in the fifth match of this series opened the door to a seven game victory for the Warriors. Although the Rockets had trouble at the beginning of 2018-2019, they entered the playoffs as one of the hottest teams in the NBA. Despite this momentum, Houston was again eliminated eliminatory series by the Warriors, this time in the semi-final of the conference.

In the following off -season, Houston exchanged Paul for the leader Russell Westbrook. The Rockets returned to the playoffs but were again eliminated in the conference semi-finals. After this disappointment, during the summer of 2020, Harden and Westbrook asked to be exchanged from the team. Houes accelerated at the request of Westbrook, sending him to Washington Wizards Before the 2020-20121 season, but initially resisted Move Harden, the cornerstone of the franchise. However, after a few rich months, in January 2021, Harden was also moved to the Brooklyn Nets. Houston then entered a period of reconstruction around young players and did not make the playoffs for four consecutive seasons.