The Houston Rockets are a professional basketball team in the National Basketball Association (the NBA).  The Houston Rockets play in the Southwest Division of the Western Conference with four other teams: the San Antonio Spurs, the Dallas Mavericks, the New Orleans Hornets and the Memphis Grizzlies.  Rockets tickets will surely be hard to come by during the 2010-2011 NBA schedule.

Rockets 2009-2010 Outlook

After three consecutive seasons with at least 50 wins and 3 straight trips to the Western Conference playoffs, the Houston Rockets found themselves on the outside looking in after a 42-40 season.  Yao Ming's season-ending foot injury suffered before the start created an ominous tone for the Rockets heading into the season.  That being said, it was still impressive that the Rockets finished the season with a winning record without their top player.  Guards Aaron Brooks and Kevin Martin emerged as legitimate NBA players, and power forward Luis Scola proved a force to be reckoned with night in and night out.  Martin led the team in scoring with his 20.6 points per game average, while Brooks averaged 19.6 points per game and 5.3 assist per game.  Scola knocked down 16.2 points per game and also led the team in rebounding with 8.6 boards per game.   

With Yao Ming returning for the upcoming season, the Rockets are very optimistic of their chances to return to the post-season and contend for the top spot in the deep Western Conference.  The Rockets hope that teams will have trouble guarding both Ming and Scola and that Martin and Brooks will continue to mature and make teams pay if they focus too much on the Rockets' big men.  Look for big things for this Rockets squad in the upcoming season -- get your Rockets NBA tickets at the Toyota Center before it's too late.

History

The Rockets franchise was founded in San Diego, California in 1967.  The San Diego Rockets selected legendary player and head coach Pat Riley with their first ever draft pick in the 1967 NBA draft.  The San Diego Rockets lost a then-record 67 games in its first season in the NBA.  The San Diego Rockets never had a winning record during its first 4 seasons in San Diego.  Following the 1970-1971 NBA season, the Rockets franchise moved to Houston, Texas.  

The Houston Rockets did not reach the playoffs in its first 3 seasons in the city of Houston.  The Houston Rockets finished with a 41-41 record during the 1974-1975 which was good enough for a trip to post-season play.  After a 1st round upset win over the New York Knicks led by Walt Frazier and Earl Monroe, the Philadelphia 76ers ousted the Houston Rockets in the Conference Semifinals.  The Houston Rockets recorded its first ever winning record in 1976-1977 with a 49-33 record.  That year the Philadelphia 76ers ousted the Houston Rockets in the Conference Finals in a hard-fought series.

Hall of Fame center Hakeem Olajuwon led the Houston Rockets to back-to-back NBA championships in 1994 and 1995.  Since the 1995 NBA Championship win, the Houston Rockets have only advanced to the Western Conference once.  

The Houston Rockets have retired the following players’ numbers:  Clyde Drexler’s #22; Calvin Murphy’s #23; Moses Malone’s #24; Hakeem Olajuwon’s 34; Rudy Tomjanovich’s #45; and Carroll Dawson’s “CD” to honor the long-time assistant coach and General Manager following his 2007 retirement.

Rockets TV/Radio

All Houston Rockets basketball games can be seen on the FSN Houston and FSN Southwest Television Networks.  NBC, ESPN and TNT may also televise Houston Rockets games based on the popularity of the game.  Tune into the Houston Rockets Flagship radio network SportsRadio 610 on your AM dial to catch each Houston Rockets basketball game on the radio.

The Toyota Center opened to the public in October 2003.  In the early 2000's the local Houston sports teams pressured the city of Houston to replace the Compaq Center with a more modern facility.  As a result of this process, the Harris County - Houston Sports Authority built the Toyota Center and the Houston Rockets have played there ever since their opening home game against the Denver Nuggets on October 30, 2003.  In addition to hosting the Houston Rockets home NBA games, the Toyota Center also hosts all of the professional hockey games for the Houston Aeros of the American Hockey League.  The Toyota Center hosted all of the professional basketball games for the Houston Comets of the Women’s National Basketball Association from 2003 through 2007, but Comets ownership moved the WNBA team to Reliant Stadium following the 2007 season.  The Toyota Center has a seating capacity of 18,300 devoted die-hard Houston Rockets fans.  The Toyota Center has hosted numerous memorable events and concerts during its short history, including WWE No Mercy 2005, UFC Shootout 69 in April 2007, WWE pay-per-view Vengeance in June 2007 and the Police’s reunion tour in 2007. 

Stadium:            Toyota Center
                            1510 Polk Street
                            Houston, TX 77002

www.nba.com/rockets  
www.toyotacentertix.com

2007-2008 Rockets
2009-2010 Rockets