History Of The Houston Rockets

By Author: Kristopher Dillon
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The Houston Rockets are a basketball team in the National Basketball Association. The story of the Rockets began in 1967 in San Diego. The team was created and joined the NBA in 1967. They started off in San Diego as the San Diego Rockets. They remained in San Diego for just 4 years however. They moved to Houston, a city more fitting for their team name, in 1971.
Things were not always good for the Rockets. They managed to win just 15 games in their first season.

The Rockets would not be held back from obtaining a playoff berth for long though. The Rockets turned around the story of their franchise with one draft pick. Elvin Hayes was picked first overall by the Houston Rockets in the 1969 NBA Draft. After drafting Hayes the Rockets were on their way to success.

In just their first season after drafting Hayes the Rockets managed to make the playoffs. He was later used as trade bait to obtain the legendary Moses Malone. While Moses Malone was on the Rockets he became one of the best players in the NBA. He managed to win the Most Valuable Player award twice while he was in Houston. In just his first season ...
... as a Rocket, he led the team all the way to the Conference finals.

By 1981, the Rockets were among the league's elite. Malone managed to carry the team to the NBA Finals, where they took on the Boston Celtics. This was the first NBA Finals appearance in franchise history. Unfortunately, the Celtics were too much for the Rockets. The Rockets were defeated by the Celtics in 6 games.

The Rockets had success in the early years of their franchise, but their greatest highlights began in 1984. In 1984 the Houston Rockets drafted Hakeem Olajuwon. Olajuwon was a center that managed to bring the Rockets to the finals in just his 2nd NBA season. They met the Celtics once again in the finals, but were defeated again. The team managed to make the playoffs several times over the next decade, but they were mostly thwarted in the playoffs until the latter part of that 10 year span.

In 1994 the Rockets returned to a level of glory. They started out the season 15-0, led by Olajuwon. He went on to win the MVP of the league and Defensive player of the year. He went on to win the Finals MVP award as well, as he led the Rockets to victory over the New York Knicks. This marked the first championship in team history.

In 1995 Hakeem Olajuwon once again led them to the finals. Olajuwon took his game to an unreal level in this appearance. They were just a sixth seed, but they looked amazing in the NBA Finals. The team took on the Orlando Magic, led by Shaquille O'Neal. Shaq was well known as the league's top up and coming big man. Olajuwon showed Shaq the ropes that season. The Magic were swept by the Rockets in 4 games.

These back to back championships stand as the highlights of the history of the Rockets. They have since continued to contend. They have almost always been a threat for the playoffs, but have never had the same presence in the playoffs. They are currently led by the oft-injured Yao Ming. Ming has shown flashes of brilliance, but has not been able to stay on the court long enough to allow his team to develop.

AUTHOR:-
Kristopher Dillon writes reviews on various sporting events including the various NBA betting odds available throughout various online sportsbooks . In this piece of write up the author wrote about National Basketball Association games. The author also takes the readers opinion on how to do NBA Betting online.