Houston Rockets LINES, ODDS, PICKS AND REVIEWS

How is the Houston Rockets' History?

The Houston Rockets are a basketball club rooted in Houston, Texas. The Rockets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a Western Conference Southwest Division member. The Toyota Center, located in downtown Houston, serves as the team's home court. 

Houston has won two NBA titles and four Western Conference championships. The San Diego Rockets were founded in 1967 as an expansion team, previously based in San Diego. After four losing seasons in San Diego, the team was renamed the Rockets and relocated to Houston in 1971. 

The early days of the Rockets were led by a pair of future Hall of Famers—Elvin Hayes, who starred at the University of Houston, and tiny Calvin Murphy—and Rudy Tomjanovich. He would coach the Rockets for 12 seasons. 

The Houston Rockets acquired Moses Malone two games into the 1976-77 season, and that year, the team had its first winning campaign and a run to the conference finals. 

The Rockets accomplished this in the 1980–81 season, when—after posting an unimpressive regular-season record of 40 wins and 42 losses—they went on to win three consecutive playoff series upsets to secure a spot in the NBA finals, where the Boston Celtics beat them. Malone departed the Rockets in 1982, and the team plummeted to the bottom of the league.

How Were the Houston Rockets Founded?

Robert Breitbard, a dentist from San Diego, established the Rockets in 1967 as an expansion team for the 1967–68 season. He paid US$1.75 million to join the NBA as an expansion franchise for that year. The NBA sought to expand in the Western United States, and it picked San Diego because of the city's robust economic and population growth and the local success of an ice hockey team owned by Breitbard. 

The San Diego International Sports Center, which opened the previous year and was also owned by Bretitbard, would be the new team's home. 

The franchise was named "Rockets" after a local contest that chose the name in homage to San Diego's motto "a city in motion," as well as general Dynamics' Atlas missile and booster rocket program, which is based in the area.

The Houston Rockets hired John Breitbard as their coach and general manager, hiring Jack McMahon, then-coach of the Cincinnati Royals, to serve in both roles.

The group, which would be part of the NBA as well as the Seattle SuperSonics, constructed its squad by recruiting veteran athletes from an expansion draft and college players from the 1967 NBA draft when San Diego's first selection was Pat Riley. 

In their first two games of the season, the Rockets were beaten by the St. Louis Hawks and lost both matches. Their maiden triumph in franchise history came three days later, against the SuperSonics. The Rockets won in Washington, 121–114. 

Johnny Green scored 30 points and grabbed 25 rebounds for the Rockets. The SuperSonics held a 15-point advantage at halftime before the Rockets mounted a comeback to go into overtime. The SuperSonics took a brief lead early in the fourth but then pulled away and won the game, 117–110. 

However, Art Williams had the first-ever triple-double in franchise history with 17 points, 15 rebounds, and 13 assists for the Rockets. The Rockets' initial season was marred by a slew of losses that set an NBA record for the most defeats in a year.

How is the Houston Rockets' Moses Malone Era?

Moses Malone, also known as Moses Eugene Malone, is an American professional basketball player who was the league's top scorer and greatest offensive rebounder in the 1980s.

Malone, who engineered Petersburg High School's historic 50-game winning streak and two state championships, was one of the most sought-after high school basketball recruits in history. However, he decided to go straight into professional basketball instead of attending a university, becoming the first high school player to do so when he joined the Utah Stars in the American Basketball Association (ABA) in 1974. 

He was acquired by the NBA's Buffalo Braves in 1975 and immediately traded to the Houston Rockets, who used him as a backup center through much of his career.

Malone played forward opposite Rudy Tomjanovich for the Houston Rockets. He appeared in 82 games with both the Sabres and Rockets, averaging 13.2 points per game (ppg) and 13.1 rebounds per game (RPG), respectively, ranking third in RPG. Malone set an NBA record with 437 offensive rebounds and broke it two years later. He also had 2.21 blocks per game, which was good for seventh in the league.

In the Eastern Conference Semifinals against the Washington Bullets, Malone grabbed 15 offensive rebounds in overtime, breaking an NBA playoff record. The Rockets made it to the Eastern Conference Finals, where they were defeated 4–2 by the Philadelphia 76ers.

The table shows the career summary of Moses Malone as of the writing:

How is the Houston Rockets Yao Ming Era?

Yao Ming was selected first overall by the Houston Rockets in the 2002 NBA Draft. Fans selected him to start for the Western Conference in the All-Star Game and made both teams a unanimous All-Rookie team in 2002–03.

Although the Rockets barely missed qualifying for the playoffs in 2003, Yao helped guide Houston to a 43–39 record—a substantial improvement from the team's 28–54 showing just one year earlier.

Yao has been the face of Houston basketball since his arrival in 2002. He was an All-Star in each of the next six seasons, and he helped the Rockets to playoff appearances five times (2004, 2005, and 2007–09). 

However, during his first seven years with the Rockets, he fractured his legs and feet numerous times, and his 2008–09 season came to an end in the playoffs as a result of a broken foot that subsequently did not heal. In the off-season, he had season-ending surgery on his left knee. 

He missed the whole 2009–10 NBA season due to the severity of the injury. Yao returned for five games at the outset of the 2010–11 campaign before fracturing his ankle, and he has been out ever since. 

Yao Ming retired from professional basketball in July 2011 after suffering numerous injuries. In 2016, he was named into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. In 2011, he was named the president of the CBA. He had been the president and owner of the Shanghai Sharks franchise since 2009.

The table shows the career summary of Yao Ming as of the writing:

How is the Houston Rockets James Harden Era?

James Harden, an NBA guard for the Houston Rockets, is one of the top players in professional basketball who benefited from his move to Houston in 2012. James Harden's distinctive beard has earned him a following as much as his exceptional performance. 

He was the third pick in the 2009 NBA draft, beginning his career with the Oklahoma City Thunder before a blockbuster transfer to the Houston Rockets in 2012. Harden has established himself as a perennial MVP candidate since that day, in part due to the sort of game that resulted in a 60-point triple-double during the 2018 season.

Before the 2012-13 season, James Harden had never played in an NBA title game. He has since developed into one of the league's top players, earning his first All-Star nod and finishing second in voting for MVP in 2015 and 2017 before finally winning it in 2018.

A lack of team success marred Harden's early years with the Rockets. In 2015, the Rockets made it to the Western Conference Finals, but they were bounced in the first round of the playoffs in 2016, and their 2017 season ended in the second round.

The Rockets, who made the postseason for the first time in 12 years after a 65-win season and a thrilling Western Conference Finals loss to the Golden State Warriors, added Paul as their star player. In 2017-18, they won an NBA-record 65 games with Paul as their leader. The following season, Harden carried the Houston Rockets out of an early deficit with his unstoppable scoring. The season, again, ended in the Warriors' hands in the playoffs.

The table shows the career summary of James Harden as of the writing:

What are the Symbols of Houston Rockets?

The symbols of Houston Rockets adheres to the identity of the Houston Rockets in space. Designers made the most recent Houston Rockets logo changes in 2019.  A basketball symbolizes the planet's spherical portion, with a white-scripted "Houston Rockets" wordmark encircling it. 

The front has a red rocket-shaped "R," which has become the team's principal logo. The strange combination of graphite gray, black, and brilliant crimson will bring good fortune to the squad.

The R in the logo stands for Rockets and represents a rocket taking off, as the initial letter of the word is R. Furthermore, against the backdrop of a basketball, simplified as a planet, R is shown. The inscription around the border resembles a satellite ring, and the stripe around it with the word HOUSTON ROCKETS is similar to an orbital ring.

What is the Houston Rockets' Logo?

The initial Rockets badge debuted in 1967, and it featured an orange basketball surrounded in a thick green circular border with the letters "San Diego" around the perimeter. The blue ascending rocket was positioned diagonally across the ball, rising upward to represent progress and development.

In 1971, after the team's move to Houston, a new logo was created. It was a caricature of a basketball player with a rocket behind his back. The new design was created in a yellow and red color scheme known as "Ketchup and mustard." It was an extremely vibrant and amusing picture, though it lasted only one year.

In 1972, the Rockets' logo was redesigned. It was a mustard-yellow basketball with white lines surrounded by a smooth red border with the word "Houston" written on the upper portion in white. The black "Rockets" wordmark was printed in a narrowed and italics sans-serif typeface in yellow right inside of it.

Houston Rockets unveiled a new logo and color scheme in 1995. It was a red ball with a sculpted bold "Rockets" text in white and gray outlined in red and blue. A funny, scary rocket flying above the lettering to the right surrounded the ball with a smooth blue orbit.

In 2003, the visual identity of the Houston Rockets was altered. The new logo featured a stylised letter "R" with vertical bars that were lengthened and forked, like a rocket burn encircled by a horizontal orbit. The wordmark was split into two distinct pieces, one red and the other white, with an unusual custom sans-serif typeface on the typeset.

In 2019, the rocket red "R" was added to a gray and black basketball. The white sans-serif writing is now encompassed by a wide gray and black orbit that appears modern yet strict and powerful. The "R" with an orbit may also be used without any additions, representing clean lines and a sleek red shade.

How is the Houston Rockets' Uniform?

The Houston Rocket’s uniform began as a jersey with green and gold combinations.  Back then, they were known as the San Diego Rockets..

The Rockets' first season in Houston was marked by them wearing the same design on their jerseys in San Diego, except for the colors being changed from green and gold to red and yellow.

The Houston Rockets' colors did not change in their second season (yellow letters and numerals). Still, they did alter the typeface with the current slanted team name across the top instead of the name curving around the jersey number.

The Rockets downed the classic red uniforms with white lettering for the road attire in 1976, which included ROCKETS on the right leg of the shorts.

The home uniforms during this era were similar to those worn in the preceding era, but they had a different color scheme, and instead of ROCKETS across the shorts, there was an image of the Rockets logo.

Houston reverted to its original red and simplified design after eight seasons with the cartoonish logo and odd uniforms. The new house jerseys were identical to the road ones, only in white.

Historically, the Rockets wore a ketchup and mustard color scheme as an alternative jersey beginning in 2009.

The Rockets have donned unique alternate uniforms for Christmas Day games, including these in 2015. The Rockets wore a sleeved jersey with Chinese characters on the breast during their celebration of Chinese New Year.

Beginning with the 2017-18 season, Nike took over NBA uniforms and made various modifications to each club. The Rockets added a new red alternate jersey and minor changes to the striping.

Beginning with the 2018-19 campaign, the Rockets began to wear a Rokit corporate sponsorship logo on their jerseys. The traditional Rockets jersey will be used as an alternate once again in the 2019-20 season, which also means the return of the classic uniform.

What are the Houston Rockets' Colors?

The colors of Houston Rockets are red, black, and silver.

The table belows shows the specific color codes of the Houston Rockets::

What are the Houston Rockets' Championships?

The Houston Rockets have two NBA titles to their name, accomplishing the feat in back-to-back years, 1994 and 1995.

The table below shows the game summary of 1994 NBA Finals:

The Houston Rockets won the Western Conference title and faced the New York Knicks for the championship, with home-court advantage in the best-of-seven series. With Hakeem "The Dream" Olajuwon at 7 feet, the Houston Rockets won their two championships. With Rudy Tomjanovich as a coach, the team was led to those triumphs by defeating the New York Knicks 4-3 in the 1994 NBA finals.

The table below shows the game summary of 1995 NBA Finals:

In the next year, however, in 1995, Houston won the second title with a 4-0 victory over the Orlando Magic in the finals. In addition to being two-time NBA league champions, the Rockets have also captured four Divisions and four Conferences.

The Orlando Magic faced the defending NBA champion and Western Conference champion Houston Rockets in the first-ever conference finals. The meeting of the two centers opposed one another in the pre-series hoopla and buildup: Shaquille O'Neal of the Magic versus Hakeem Olajuwon of the Rockets. The matchup was compared to Bill Russell vs. Wilt Chamberlain in the 1960s before the series began.

The Houston Rockets became the first squad in NBA history to overcome four 50-victory teams en route to the title. The 1995 postseason was particularly memorable for the Rockets, who set a playoff record by winning nine road games. It was the second time in the 2–3–2 Finals format that an NBA team had swept an opponent four times (after the Detroit Pistons did so against the Los Angeles Lakers in 1989).

Who are the Houston Rockets' Players?

The Houston Rockets' players are led by Jalen Green, a budding star, with the second pick in the NBA Draft. The Rockets also acquired talented big man Alperen Sengun and agile scoring guard Josh Christopher, as well as rim-protecting tweener Usman Garuba, in separate trades. 

The Rockets had a fantastic draft night. The Houston Rockets slide those four players onto a roster that includes breakout guard Kevin Porter Jr., a guard who can score, Eric Gordon, John Wall, and stretch four, Christian Wood. Houston, on the other hand, has enough pieces in place to "see light at the end of the tunnel." 

A starting five of John Wall, Jalen Green, Kevin Porter Jr., Christian Wood, and Alperen Sengun would make sense for a rebuilding squad looking to get their young players lots of playing time.

The table below shows the Golden State Warriors' depth chart:

Jalen Romande Green was widely regarded as a five-star prospect and the best shooting guard in 2020. ESPN ranked him first overall.

Green was selected second pick by the Houston Rockets in the 2021 NBA draft on July 29, 2021. He had 23 points, five rebounds, and two assists in 30 minutes during his summer league debut on August 8 against the Cleveland Cavaliers.

He was named the All-Summer League Second Team after missing the final three of five games due to an injured right hamstring. He made his preseason debut on October 5 in a 125–119 win over the Washington Wizards, contributing 12 points, six rebounds, and two assists.

On October 20, Green made his NBA debut in a 124–106 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves. On October 24, against the Boston Celtics, Green had 30 points, with eight three-pointers made, becoming the first rookie in Rockets history to do so.

On April 10, 2022, Green put up 41 points in a 130–114 loss to the Atlanta Hawks, becoming the first Rockets rookie since Hakeem Olajuwon to score 40 points. He was named Rookie of the Month for March and April at the end of the regular season.

What is the Houston Rockets Roaster?

An NBA roster is a list of the currently under contract with a particular NBA team. Roasters can vary in size from team to team but typically include between 12 and 15 players. Players on an NBA roaster must be at least 18 years of age, and they can come from anywhere in the world.

An NBA roaster is important because it determines how many players a team is allowed to have on its active roster. The NBA has a limit of 15 players on an active roster, and these 15 players are the only ones allowed to play in games.

The table below shows the current roaster of Houston Rockets:

Coach: Stephen Silas

Stephen Silas is the head coach of the National Basketball Association's Houston Rockets. He is the son of Paul Silas, a former NBA head coach.

From 2000 to 2002, he was a member of the Charlotte Hornets. From 2002 to 2003, he spent time with the New Orleans Hornets and Cleveland Cavaliers. He was a part of the Cleveland Cavaliers from 2003 until 2005, working under his father. He has also served as an advance scout for the Washington Wizards during the 2005–06 season and as an assistant coach for the Golden State Warriors from 2006 to 2010 before returning to his father in Charlotte, where he worked until 2018.

He was 27 years old when he joined the Charlotte Hornets as an assistant on June 5, 2000, making him the NBA's youngest assistant.

Silas became an assistant coach for the Dallas Mavericks on May 24, 2018.

On October 30, 2020, the Houston Rockets announced that Silas would take over as head coach. Unfortunately for Silas and the Houston Rockets, following his debut season in which they had to play a league-high 30 players owing to several ailments and transactions, they ended with a league-worst 17–55 record.

How are the Houston Rockets' last five years?

The table shows the Houston Rockets’ last five years:

How is the Houston Rockets' season-by-season record?

The table shows the Houston Rockets’ season-by-season record:

What Is the Average Cost for Houston Rockets Tickets?

The average price of a Rockets game ticket is $62.00, with tickets available for as low as $6.00.

It's worth noting that average ticket prices represent nothing more than typical ticket rates. As a result, if individuals want to purchase tickets, they should inspect the cost of specific seats at the games they wish to attend. It is critical because consumer demand determines ticket costs, which means that they may vary considerably based on the attractiveness of certain viewpoints and match-ups.

Where to Buy Houston Rockets Tickets?

The NBA has a partnership with Ticketmaster. A fan may buy tickets to watch matches involving the Houston Rockets through them. Simultaneously, sites like StubHub rent such tickets.

How did Tilman Fertitta's Ownership Affect the Houston Rockets?

Tilman Joseph Fertitta is a billionaire American businessman and reality television personality.

Fans are already against Fertitta, who paid $2.2 billion for the Rockets in 2017. He saved money by constructing his team's squad in order to avoid paying the luxury tax. Houston almost took off Golden State in the playoffs months later, in the 2018 offseason. He allowed Trevor Ariza to walk for what would've been about $39 million. He also allowed Luc Mbah a Moute to accept a low-pay, incentive-based offer from the Los Angeles Clippers.

He also slammed Rockets general manager Daryl Morey's article in favor of Hong Kong pro-democracy activists, which was seen as an attempt to mend fences between the NBA and its primary global market, China.

The Rockets' partnership with China subsequently came to a halt, forcing the franchise and the NBA to lose hundreds of millions of dollars. The $3.5 million penalties on player contracts were originally expected to cost the league a projected $1 million for each team, suggesting that its impact was less than previously anticipated.

In particular, many fans have criticized Fertitta for his apparent focus on profit over winning. For instance, he has made it clear that he is not interested in spending lavishly on player salaries, preferring to use the team's money to invest in other business ventures. As a result, everything Fertitta has performed since the ownership of the Houston Rockets has demonstrated that he is primarily concerned with profit.

Who are the rivals of the Houston Rockets?

The rivals of the Houston Rockets are the San Antonio Spurs and the Utah Jazz. Texas is home to three NBA teams (the Houston Rockets, San Antonio Spurs, and Dallas Mavericks). Each has won at least one NBA championship. Although the Mavs have a healthy sibling rivalry with the Rockets, the Spurs have been giving them fits for quite some time.

When both teams were up-and-coming challengers in the late '80s and '90s, their rivalry was fresh. They also possessed two of the league's top centers, with Houston's Hakeem "The Dream" Olajuwon and San Antonio's "The Admiral" David Robinson.

Matters came to a head in the 1994-95 season, when some fans felt that Olajuwon had been robbed of his second consecutive MVP award, which went to Robinson. Of course, those emotions were channeled into the WCF when the sixth-seeded Rockets beat the top-seeded Spurs in six games.

Since then, both teams have remained competitive, meeting in the playoffs several more times.

It's also worth noting that the T-Mac game in 2004 when he scored 13 points in 33 seconds, came at the cost of the Spurs.

Both the Rockets and the Jazz clubs of the '90s have a great rivalry between them. 

In 1984-85, the third-seeded Rockets were beaten by the sixth-seeded Jazz in Olajuwon's rookie season. In 1994 and 1995, the Houston Rockets avenged their defeats on Utah by running through them both years in the postseason.

Once again, the Jazz showed the Rockets the exit during their decline in subsequent seasons. Karl Malone and John Stockton defeated Clyde Drexler, Charles Barkley, and Hakeem Olajuwon in the 1997 WCF. Stockton's game-winning shot stunned the crowd as Utah won 4-2 in a thrilling series.

The Jazz eliminated the Rockets in the first round of the playoffs for a second time. The following year, we never got to see how the Rockets would have done against Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls, owing to Utah's supremacy at the time and Jordan's retirement.