Introduction
The Houston Rockets is a National Basketball League team that is a franchise belonging to the Western Conference. The team was founded in 1967 and was first bought at an amount of 1.75 million dollars by Robert Breitbard. The same year (1967), the team joined the NBA as an expansion team and the season ran from 1967 – 1968. Surprisingly the team named Houston Rockets was founded in San Diego. The reason for the name was because the franchise nickname had to be named after Atlas Rockets and San Diego city was famously known as the city of motion. The first coach of the team was Jack McMahon (STH 1).
History
The first season for the Houston Rockets to join the NBA was a history making year for the team. The team lost 67 matches in the 1967 – 1968 NBA season. The losing spirit was stretched into the next two seasons of the team and therefore the owner (Breitbard) reiterated a sale of the club. The team was therefore giving bad attendance and it was not viable for business at the time. The performance therefore prompted Breitbard to sell the team which was given up in 1971. The franchise was therefore bought by Texas Sports investments, the investment company was under Wayne Duddleston a real estate broker and Billy Goldberg a banker (STH 2).
The team was therefore bought at an amount of $5.6 million. The buying of the team also marked its moving to Houston. Surprisingly the moving of the team to Texas also branded it the first team in the region to be in the NBA league. It means that much focus was put on the team especially in new acquisition of fans, and even investors. It did not make much history at this stage. It was in the NBA season of 1974 – 1975 that the Rockets started to gain momentum of the game. This season saw the team gain 10 – 5 where the play was effected by Rudy Tomjanovich shooting and the play making capability of Calvin Murphy (Fleming 3).A twist in the history of the team came in the year 1993, at this time it was under a new owner, Leslie Alexander.
The Rockets were bought at an amount of $85 million in July 30, 1993. The team also saw their first win in the NBA league in the next year after being bought by Leslie. The year 1994 marked the first win for the Rockets where they clinched the NBA Championship win in the 1993 – 1994 season. The game that pitted the Rockets to the Knicks was Game 7 and it saw the Rockets beat the Knicks 90 – 84. This game also determined the ownership of the Knicks who were Viacom that sold the team and the Madison Square Garden properties (STH 2).
The win in that season opened up the team to be competitive. At the commencement of the 1994 – 1995 season, the Rockets won their first 9 games. The team made some structural changes to its players by trading Otis Thorpe to Portland Trailblazers with Clyde Drexler. It was at this time of the season that the team lost two key players with Carl Herrera succumbing to injury and Vernon Maxwell who complained and left due to lack of play time (Fleming 3). The frustrations did not seem to weigh down the team on its determination to win the NBA champions league.
The win was contributed to by Hakeem Olajuwon who was crowned the MVP award. The final game was between the Rockets and Orlando Magic. The game was tied at 118 in the late seconds and it is the time that Olajuwon stole a winner in the first game by converting a Clyde Drexler’s miss. The Rockets therefore beat the Magic to clinch their second consecutive NBA win. The rockets were the NBA Champions in the year 1994 and 1995. They reached the NBA finals four times which was in 1981, 1986, 1994 and 1995 (Fleming 3).
The team also reached the conference finals seven times. This happened in 1977, 1981, 1986, 1994, 1995, and 1997 and recently in 2015. The team has also reached the Divisions in the NBA Champions five times. This is in 1977, 1986, 1993, 1994 and 2015. The play offs appearances amount to 28 times and they are in the periods of 1975, 1977, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1985, 1986, 1987,1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2013, 2014 and 2015.
A record start was experienced in the 2014 – 2015 season where the Rockets started the season with six straight wins. The main proponent for the win was James Harden due to his shooting abilities. Even though the team keeps dwindling, it has had a good record in the NBA seasons. There are coaches that have helped the team to prosper and as it takes a lot to stay in the winning end and it is also important to base concerns on individual games and players.
There are players and coaches that have left a mark on the hall of fame of the team. They include Charles Barkley 1996 – 1997, Clyde Drexler 1994 – 1995, Moses Malone 1976 – 1977, Hakeem Olajuwon 1984 – 2004, Tex Winter 1971 – 1972 among others. The players and coaches have been material to the team and it is with their help that the team has been on the limelight for the right reasons.
Works Cited
Fleming, F. Historical Moments. 18 November 2015. Web. 9 March 2016.
STH. Houston Rockets. 2003. Web. 9 March 2016.
