I'm going to say "yes". It's really tied with '86 in my mind. But I give it the slightest infinitesimal edge because we would've swept the Cavs, and essentially lost game 6 and 7 against a team that was declared unbeatable just months ago - and why - because of an injury and some... league engineering.
It's been posted around here before, but this is a super interesting read for anyone that hasn't read it before talking about the talent of that team and even exploring some of the conspiracy theories of the league trying to undo us so that they could maintain their marquee matchup of Lakers vs Celtics http://grantland.com/features/an-oral-history-hakeem-olajuwon-ralph-sampson-1980s-houston-rockets/
lmao. That Ref doesn't stand a chance against those 2 giants. Their arms are longer than him. Dream's arm isn't even extended. A for effort, ref.
On potential, I'm still going with the 86 team. That team lost 4 players in about a year. Lucas, Sampson, Wiggins, and Lloyd. All of whom were outstanding talents with potential to be excellent players. Healthy Ralph was one of the best players we've ever had, it still upsets me we never got to see his peak because of injuries. This summer, y'all go back and watch some of the 85-86 Rockets games on youtube. When they got it going, they were some bad boys.
I first said 86 because we beat the Lakers but for all practical purposes. However I changed my mind since we were essentially 2 quarters and some really bad officiating away from winning a championship this year. F the NBA game fixing and old man hamstrings
But we were man-handled by Boston. Even though we took Boston to 6 games, it wasn't really that close. There was little doubt Boston would beat us.
I think you can make an argument about this years team being the best in franchise history. I mean if CP3 plays in half of the games he missed, we win 70. And it's not like our title teams were dominant teams.
Same as this year. Damn Injuries!!! 2008-2009 Rockets would have won it all if Yao and McGrady was healthy.
Tmac and Yao were healthy They lost to Dallas and Utah And losing in first round is not on the same planet as losing to the defending champions in seven games in the conference finals
I may have my seasons mixed up. Houston was the only team that took the Lakers (on route to a championship) to 7 games. T-Mac already out for the playoffs and Yao went down against Lakers. Had either or both been healthy, Rockets would have won a championship that year as well.
you are correct. that was 2008-09. extremely talented team and built for the era with elite perimeter D (battier, artest, tmac) and rim protection (yao, deke) with pretty good 3&D role players. i'll admit we didn't "feel" like a championship team the way this year's team did, but a healthy tmac and yao against those lakers would have been a great series (against our injured team it kind of felt like the lakers kept taking games off when they were up and then blew us out when the series was tied).
yeah, this was certainly the most overall talented team in rockets history. 65 wins and some insane win/loss record when harden/paul/capela played kinda of proves that. we won games easily (the 36-4 run against i think charlotte was maybe my favorite "overwhelming the opponent" moment of the season). hakeem's ability to always be amazing in the playoffs makes it hard to choose this team over 94 and 95, even if 94 and 95 didn't face a team as good as these warriors.
This is true going down 0-3 then winning a couple. Still respect winning TWO games though, like '81. Rockets probably own the NBA Franchise Record for Minimum Win-Total in a Finals --- and, did it FOUR times.
hakeem: i made a finals with 47 wins. moses: hold my beer. pretty crazy. the lakers made the finals 8 times in the 80's. the other 2 teams were rockets teams with a combined 91 wins. and yet neither year is our most celebrated underdog run.
Damn, thinking now, Spurs have always won THREE Finals games minimum. Rockets still more impressive since it spreads over multiple best players.
Besides this year, has the Rockets franchise ever lost a playoffs series when they owned the better record ? Doesn't seem it's happened many times. 2014 might be the only one we were favored and lost. *eta- '07 Rockets were ONE game better than Utah. Blame Yao more than Tracy though.
