Houston Rockets Information

The 2009/10 Houston Rockets tickets will be flying low for the beginning part of the season as center Yao Ming  recovers from surgery to repair a stress fracture in his left surgically repaired ankle.  With Tracy McGrady still rehabbing his own micro fracture surgery, the Rockets went in search of players who may be able to help in the interim.  Enter Trevor Ariza, he of the World Champion Los Angeles Lakers and second round draft pick Jermaine Taylor, a 6-4 guard out of Central Florida and Chase Budinger a 6-7 forward out of Arizona.  The Rockets feel both of their draft picks can contribute immediately.
The captains of the ship are the imposing Yao Ming and new Rocket Ron Artest. With McGrady sidelined for the remainder of the season, it will take the whole team as well as the fans if the Rockets are going to get past the pesky LA Lakers.  The Western Conference Semi-finals are now tied at 1-1 with the next three games in Los Angeles. 

The Houston Rockets made their first appearance in Texas in 1971, after playing as the San Diego Rockets from 1967 to 1970. The name Rockets was kept because Houston was a major NASA city. In the Rockets history, the team has won NBA Championships in 1994 and 1995, one of the few pro sports franchises to achieve back-to-back championships.

The 1993-94 season was good right from the beginning. The Rockets started the season by running off 15 straight wins on their way to a 22-1 start. Featuring the outstanding play of Hakeem Olajuwon, who won both the NBA MVP Award and Defensive Player of the Year, the Rockets ended the regular season with a 58-24 record.

The playoffs started well, with Houston blasting past the Portland Trail Blazers. In the second round things suddenly got a lot tougher. The Rockets dropped the first two games of the series to the Phoenix Suns. Facing an uphill battle and trailing at halftime, Houston rallied to win Game 3 118-102. Now on a roll, the Rockets claimed wins in Game 4 and Game 5 to take the lead in the series. After the Suns evened things up, Houston came through in the pinch with a 104-94 win in Game 7 to advance to the Western Conference Finals. Five games later, the Rockets had sent the Utah Jazz packing and were on their way to the NBA Finals. Facing Patrick Ewing and the New York Knicks, Houston took a 2-1 lead when Sam Cassell hit a 3-point shot late in the game to give the Rockets the edge. A pair of disturbing losses followed and Houston found itself playing from behind in Game 6. Another late-game rally sent the series to Game 7 where the Rockets found their footing; Olajuwon stuffed 25 points into the basket, and the Rockets won their first NBA Championship.

In 1995 it was the Orlando Magic that lined up against Houston in the NBA Finals. This time it was the Rockets that jumped out to a 2-0 series lead. The Magic never materialized for Orlando as the Rockets went on to sweep the series and bring home their second consecutive NBA Championship.

The current model of Rockets is looking to rekindle the success of their predecessors. Yao and Artest form one of the NBA’s most dynamic duos. Will they be enough to hang another NBA Championship banner in the Toyota Center? Find out by picking up your Houston Rockets tickets today.