Rockets, fans shoot for star, replacement level "writer" sits back and laugh at them

Well, Yao was definitely a big part of last year's playoff run. If your point is that it's tmac and yao, that obviously did not work due to injuries. For the 50 win seasons, the one that we were favored to win was the first try against Utah. I won't even get into the Dallas series, but the second loss to Utah was a situation where we had 50+ wins, benefiting from the 22 game win streak. Not to mention, Landry was not the same player he was and is during the playoffs after he got shot in the leg.

As for previous records, I don't see the point you're trying to make. Going back to 85-86 is ridiculous if you're trying to make a correlation to the championship years. Other than Hakeem, I don't imagine many, if any of those players remained from the 86 finals appearance team. Outside of 92-93, I'd hardly call the W-L comparisons from the 4-6 years before it as a huge success. Teams in the West back then can't compare to the cluster that it is today.

Besides...
1992-93 NBA 55 27 Lost Western Conference Semifinals Tomjanovich (55-27)
1991-92 NBA 42 40 no playoffs Chaney (26-26), Tomjanovich (16-14)
1990-91 NBA 52 30 Lost Western Conference First Round Chaney (52-30)
1989-90 NBA 41 41 Lost Western Conference First Round Chaney (41-41)
1988-89 NBA 45 37 Lost Western Conference First Round Chaney (45-37)
1987-88 NBA 46 36 Lost Western Conference First Round Fitch (46-36)


Hmm... this looks very familiar to me. 4 First round exits, a change in a coach and made to Conf. Semifinals on the next year. It's silly to think Yao's injury would've made the parallel difference to a 93-94 repeat, but it sure has a lot to do with the downward momentum before the season begins. If Dream got hurt in 93-94, we'd be in a similar predicament.

 

Just edited it above

1992-93 NBA 55 27 Lost Western Conference Semifinals Tomjanovich (55-27)
1991-92 NBA 42 40 no playoffs Chaney (26-26), Tomjanovich (16-14)
1990-91 NBA 52 30 Lost Western Conference First Round Chaney (52-30)
1989-90 NBA 41 41 Lost Western Conference First Round Chaney (41-41)
1988-89 NBA 45 37 Lost Western Conference First Round Chaney (45-37)
1987-88 NBA 46 36 Lost Western Conference First Round Fitch (46-36)

 

I listed the records in response to a request from Carl Herrera:

Originally Posted by Carl Herrera
What's the Rockets' record in the years leading up the the championship?

I know. When you look at the Rockets' record going back to the 80's it's like the NBA version of Groundhog Day. I was somewhat surprised at the symmetry.

 

Here you go:

1993 -- defeated LA Clippers, 3-2, first round
lost to Seattle, 4-3, conference semifinals

1991 -- lost to LA Lakers, 3-0, first round

1990 -- lost to LA Lakers, 3-1, first round

1989 -- lost to Seattle, 3-1, first round

1988 -- lost to Dallas, 3-1, first round

1987 -- defeated Portland, 3-1, first round
lost to Seattle, 4-2, conference semifinals

1986 -- defeated Sacramento, 3-0, first round
defeated Denver, 4-2, conference semifinals
defeated LA Lakers, 4-1, conference finals
lost to Boston, 4-2, NBA Finals

1985 -- lost to Utah, 3-2, first round