History of The Houston Rockets

History Of The Houston Rockets

The Houston Rockets are an American professional basketball team based in Houston, Texas. The team plays in the Southwest Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association (NBA). The team was established in 1967, and played in San Diego, California for four years, before moving to Houston, Texas.

In the Rockets' debut season, they won games. After drafting Elvin Hayes first overall in the 1968 NBA Draft, they made their first appearance in the playoffs in 1969. After Hayes was traded, Moses Malone replaced him. Malone won two Most Valuable Player (MVP) awards during his time in Houston, and he led the Rockets to the 1978 conference finals in his first year with the Rockets. He also took the Rockets to the NBA Finals in 1981, but they were defeated in six games by the Boston Celtics. Two years after advancing to the finals, the Rockets won a franchise-low 14 games.

In 1985, the Rockets drafted future Hall of Famer Hakeem Olajuwon, who led them to the 1986 Finals in his rookie year, where they lost again to Boston. In the next seven seasons, they lost in the first round of the playoffs five times. They did not win their first championship until 1994, when Olajuwon led them to a franchise-best 58 wins, and the championship. The Rockets repeated the feat in 1995, but in the following seasons, they did not advance to the finals again. They missed the playoffs from 1999 to 2003, and did not reach the playoffs again until they drafted Yao Ming in 2003. However, they would not advance past the first round of the playoffs for 13 years. In the 2007-08 NBA season, their most successful campaign to date since Olajuwon retired, they won 55 games, and won 22 games in a row, but still lost in the first round.

This all changed in the 2009 NBA Playoffs, when the Rockets defeated the Portland Trail Blazers in the first round and pushed the eventual champion Los Angeles Lakers to seven games in the 2009 Western Conference Semifinals.

Read more about History Of The Houston Rockets:  San Diego Rockets (1967–1971), Improving in Houston (1971–1981), The Twin Towers (1981–1993), Hakeem Olajuwon Era (1993–2000), The 21st Century (2000–present)

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