Tag: Today in Rockets history

Today in history: Rockets set NBA record with 27 made 3-pointers

On April 7, 2019, the Rockets made NBA history with 27 made 3-pointers in a huge win over Phoenix. Austin Rivers hit the record-setter.

One year ago on April 7, 2019, the Houston Rockets set the all-time NBA record with 27 made 3-pointers as a team in a 149-113 blowout victory (box score) over the visiting Phoenix Suns at Toyota Center.

The Rockets made 27-of-57 3-pointers (47.4%), led by 8-of-13 (61.5%) from guard Eric Gordon. The eight treys tied his career high.

From the postgame recap by The Associated Press:

Gary Clark tied the record with a little over three minutes to play and Houston missed the next four before Austin Rivers broke it with 1:09 remaining. He crouched a bit and pointed at the Phoenix bench after the make as fans bellowed: ”Threeeeeeee!”

”There was no choice,” Rivers deadpanned. ”The ball was coming to me.” He said he didn’t realize they were close to breaking the record until he heard the crowd yelling at them to take more 3s.

James Harden led the Rockets in scoring with an extremely efficient 30 points, which came on 10-of-14 shooting (71.4%) and 5-of-6 (83.3%) on 3-pointers. He also had 13 rebounds and nine assists in just 29 minutes.

The complete highlight package of all 27 makes from 3-point range can be viewed below. The blowout victory improved the 2018-19 Rockets to 53-28, while dropping the Suns to 19-62.

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Today in Rockets history: Hakeem Olajuwon duels Dominique Wilkins

In a battle of future Hall of Famers, Olajuwon had 39 points, 11 rebounds, and six blocks in a win over Wilkins (36/11) and the Clippers.

April 1994 was the start of a championship journey for Hakeem Olajuwon and the Houston Rockets in the 1993-94 NBA playoffs. Before getting there, though, they needed to take care of regular-season business.

Reserve guard Mario Elie referred to Phoenix as Houston’s most difficult playoff opponent, and the Suns pushed the Rockets to the brink in the second round. Fortunately, that Game 7 was in Houston, because the Rockets (58-24) narrowly held off the Suns (56-26) in the standings.

The Suns won their final seven regular-season games, which kept the heat on Houston to keep pace in the battle for the Western Conference’s No. 2 playoff seed. One game they couldn’t let slip away was on April 3, 1994, on the road versus the lottery-bound Los Angeles Clippers.

It was a tougher game than it appeared, judging by the records. Though the Clippers weren’t going to the playoffs, they made a trade at the February 1994 deadline for future Hall of Famer Dominique Wilkins — who averaged 29 points and seven rebounds per game in Los Angeles.

Against the Rockets, Wilkins was even better. “The Human Highlight Film” scored 36 points on 46.7% shooting and grabbed 11 rebounds.

But Olajuwon had all the answers. In a 106-98 win (box score), “The Dream” posted game-high totals of 39 points (60.7% FG), 11 rebounds, and six blocks as Houston maintained its lead for the No. 2 seed.

Besides holding off Phoenix in the West, the Rockets also finished the 1993-94 regular season just one game ahead of New York (57-25) in the East. That advantage proved significant when the Rockets and Knicks met in the 1994 NBA Finals, with Olajuwon’s Rockets winning the decisive Game 7 at home to claim the franchise’s first championship.

Olajuwon’s duel with Wilkins in early April wasn’t nearly as historic as ones that came in the weeks ahead versus the likes of Charles Barkley, Karl Malone, and Patrick Ewing. But taking care of business in the regular season is what put those Rockets on the optimal path for playoff success.

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Today in Rockets history: Yao Ming holds off Kobe, Lakers at Staples

In the No. 3 scoring game of his career, Yao Ming had 39 points, 11 rebounds, and four blocks in a road win over Kobe Bryant’s Lakers.

In an epic battle of future Hall of Famers, Yao Ming and the visiting Houston Rockets held off Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers in a 107-104 overtime win (box score) on March 30, 2007 at Staples Center.

Bryant scored a game-high 53 points, though it took him 44 shots to get there. (He made 19 of them for a respectable 43.2% shooting clip.) While Rockets guard and fellow Hall of Famer Tracy McGrady did score 30 points, Bryant’s defense helped limit him to just 29.2% shooting.

McGrady did have 10 assists, as compared to just two assists by Bryant. “I was fine with our defense on Bryant,” Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy said postgame (game recap). “I didn’t have much problem with that. He’s a great player. He took a ton of shots. There’s only so much you can do.”

The real difference between the teams was inside, where Yao scored 39 points on just 18 shots, making 11 (61.1%). He also grabbed 11 rebounds, blocked four shots, and shot 21 free throws, making 17 of them (81.0%). It was the third-highest scoring game of Yao’s NBA career.

It all proved to be too much for the Lakers and Kwame Brown, who had 15 points and seven rebounds in 40 minutes. Brown and Yao were selected No. 1 overall in the 2001 NBA Draft and in 2002, respectively.

“Obviously Tracy was struggling from the floor,” Van Gundy said postgame. “Yao came through in a big way.” The 7-foot-5 center finished the 2006-07 season averaging 25.0 points per game, which was the highest single-season total of Yao’s eight-year NBA career.

The win improved Houston to 47-26 and dropped the Lakers to 38-34. The two sides finished fifth and seventh in the 2007 Western Conference standings, with each losing in the first round of the 2007 NBA playoffs.

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Today in Rockets history: Hakeem Olajuwon posts quadruple-double

On March 29, 1990, Olajuwon recorded just the third quadruple-double (18 points, 16 rebounds, 11 blocks, 10 assists) in NBA history.

It was exactly 30 years ago today when Houston Rockets center and future Basketball Hall of Famer Hakeem Olajuwon recorded just the third quadruple-double in NBA history.

In a 120-94 home victory (box score) over the visiting Milwaukee Bucks (37-33), Olajuwon tallied 18 points, 16 rebounds, 11 blocks, and 10 assists. The win improved the Rockets to 34-36 on the 1989-90 season.

The victory proved to be quite critical, since the Rockets (41-41) eventually clinched the Western Conference’s eighth and final playoff spot upon winning a tiebreaker with the Seattle SuperSonics. Had Houston lost one more game, they would have missed the 1990 playoffs.

Then 27 years old, Olajuwon played all 82 games in the 1989-90 season and averaged 24.3 points, 14.0 rebounds, 4.6 blocks, 2.9 assists, and 2.1 steals per game. Those rebounding and blocked shot totals were the best of any season in the seven-footer’s storied 18-year NBA career.

Remarkably, Olajuwon had almost pulled off the quadruple-double in a victory over the Golden State Warriors earlier that same month (March 3, 1990), when he had 29 points, 18 rebounds, 11 blocks, and nine assists. Less than four weeks later, “The Dream” fully kicked that door in.

As of today, only four players have accomplished the quadruple-double feat in NBA history, and none since David Robinson in 1994. Other players to have done it are Nate Thurmond and Alvin Robertson.

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Today in Rockets history: Red-hot Tracy McGrady drops 44 in Utah

On March 28, 2005, McGrady scored 44 points on 71.4% shooting, and he also had five steals as Houston routed its longtime rival on the road.

On this day 15 years ago, Rockets star and future Hall of Famer Tracy McGrady dropped 44 points on 15-of-21 shooting (71.4%) in Salt Lake City. It all led to a 99-85 Houston win (box score) on March 28, 2005.

The victory improved the Rockets to 43-28. Houston ultimately finished the season at 51-31 and as the Western Conference’s No. 5 playoff seed before losing in the first round to No. 4 Dallas (58-24) in seven games.

On that March 28 night in Utah, with the Rockets in the middle of a playoff push late in the regular season, McGrady scored an astonishing 30 points during the first half alone on 11-of-13 shooting (84.6%).

The Houston Chronicle‘s Jonathan Feigen sets the scene:

When he nailed his last shot of the first half from deep in the corner, with Gordan Giricek close enough to smell McGrady’s antiperspirant, the Jazz fans could not help but cheer.

“How often do they see something like that?” McGrady said. “Not saying that their guys don’t do that, but it’s very rare that a guy comes in and puts up 22 points in a quarter. Ever since I had the game (against) Cleveland (scoring 31 last week), I’ve been in a zone like I was when I averaged 32 points in this league. I just felt like everything is just clicking for me offensively. My overall game is there for me.

“I don’t know what sparked that, but I’m to that point right now. It’s probably just confidence, but I feel like I’m in that zone. My defender is basically at my mercy all night.”

Then 25 years old, the Rockets had acquired McGrady before the 2004-05 season as part of a blockbuster trade with the Orlando Magic. That initial year was McGrady’s best as a scorer over his six seasons in Houston, with per-game averages of 25.7 points on 43.1% shooting.

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Today in Rockets history: Lou Williams steals show vs. Thunder

In what was billed as an MVP showdown between Harden and Westbrook, Lou Williams scored a team-high 31 points in a big Rockets win.

On paper, the March 26, 2017 game between the Oklahoma City Thunder and Houston Rockets was supposed to be a showdown between MVP frontrunners Russell Westbrook and James Harden. As ABC’s Sunday game of the week, Toyota Center had the national spotlight.

But from the perspective of scoring efficiency, no one was better on that day than Rockets reserve guard Lou Williams.

Williams scored a team-high 31 points — the most of his brief tenure in Houston — on 11-of-15 shooting (73.3%), including a blistering 7-of-8 clip (87.5%) on 3-pointers. The Rockets won with ease, 137-125 (box score), and collectively made 20-of-39 from 3-point range (51.3%).

“They hit a lot of shots, man,” Westbrook said postgame. “They got hot and especially with a team like that, they get hot and it can be trouble.”

Westbrook scored a game-high 39 points, but 18 came after the game was long over — with the Rockets leading by 25 points heading to the fourth quarter. Harden had 22 points and 12 assists.

Westbrook and Harden would finish first and second, respectively, in 2017 MVP voting. But the Rockets got the last laugh by eliminating the Thunder, four games to one, in the first round of the 2017 NBA playoffs.

After being acquired from the Los Angeles Lakers at the February 2017 trade deadline, Williams played in 34 combined regular-season and playoff games for the Rockets. He was then traded to the Clippers, where he remains today, in the June 2017 deal for Chris Paul.

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This day in history: Harden ties Rockets scoring record with 61

James Harden tied his career high with 61 points on March 22, 2019, including all 13 in Houston’s late 13-2 run to put the Spurs away.

In a home game versus the in-state and division rival San Antonio Spurs, James Harden tied his personal career high and Houston Rockets franchise record with 61 points on March 22, 2019 (box score).

On that Friday one year ago, Harden scored 61 on 19-of-34 shooting (55.9%), including a staggering 9-of-13 on 3-pointers (69.2%). And his Rockets needed every bit of it to pull out the win at Toyota Center.

Harden saved his best for the biggest moments, scoring all of Houston’s points in a late 13-2 run to secure the 111-105 victory (recap).

“I was just in attack mode all night,” Harden said after the game. When legendary Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich was asked postgame about strategies to slow down the NBA’s then-reigning MVP, he replied:

You think I know? If anybody knew, they would have already done it. Nobody can do it.

“I don’t know how you get any better than that,” Rockets head cach Mike D’Antoni said postgame to reporters. “Whoever was in the gym tonight got to see something they’ve never seen before.”

Harden, who also scored 61 on January 23, 2019 in New York, joined Wilt Chamberlain, Kobe Bryant, and Michael Jordan as the only players with multiple 60-point games in a single season in NBA history.

In his previous game, Harden scored 57 versus the Memphis Grizzlies, which made him just the second player in NBA history (after Chamberlain) to score at least 55 points in consecutive games.

Harden went on to finish the 2018-19 season averaging 36.1 points per game, which was the most by any NBA player in over 30 years.

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Today in Rockets history: Hakeem Olajuwon, Alex English do battle

In an epic duel on March 21, 1989, Olajuwon and English combined for 73 points as the playoff-bound Rockets and Nuggets battled for seeding.

On March 21, 1989, future Hall of Famers Hakeem Olajuwon and Alex English engaged in an epic duel at The Summit in Houston.

In his fifth NBA season, the 25-year-old Olajuwon led the Rockets (36-29) with 36 points on 16-of-31 (51.6%) shooting, and he also added a game-high 23 rebounds, three steals, and two blocks.

But it wasn’t enough that day in a 112-110 loss (box score) to the Denver Nuggets (36-30), who were led by 37 points from English on 15-of-29 shooting (51.7%). An eight-time All-Star, English averaged 26.5 points per game in the 1988-89 season, which ranked fifth in the NBA.

Olajuwon averaged 24.8 points (50.8% FG), 13.5 rebounds, and 3.4 blocks per game that season, and he finished fifth in 1988-89 MVP voting. English and Olajuwon started at small forward and center, respectively, for the Western Conference in the 1989 NBA All-Star Game (box score).

Though the Nuggets beat the Rockets on March 21, Houston (45-37) still held off Denver (44-38) for the No. 5 spot in the 1988-89 West standings. Both teams lost in the first round of the 1989 playoffs.

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Today in Rockets history: James Harden leads comeback bid with 57

Of Harden’s 57 points in Memphis on March 20, 2019, 28 came in the fourth quarter and overtime — after Houston had trailed by 19 points.

One year ago, James Harden scored 57 points as the Houston Rockets stormed back from a huge fourth-quarter deficit in Memphis.

Unfortunately for the Rockets, it still wasn’t enough to win. The Rockets outscored the Grizzlies by a commanding 37-18 margin in the fourth quarter to force overtime, but Memphis edged them out in OT, 126-125 (box score), on a free throw in the final second from Jonas Valanciunas.

Of Harden’s 57 points, 28 came in the fourth quarter or overtime, including several late shots to bring his team back after the game seemed to be out of reach. It nearly tied Harden’s career high of 61 points in a game, which was set twice during the 2018-19 campaign, and it was his seventh of nine games that season with 50 or more points.

At the time, it was just Houston’s second loss in a 14-game span. After the highlight video, check out excerpts of the March 20, 2019 game recap from former RocketsWire Editor Kelly Cohen.

The reigning MVP did it all on the second night of a back-to-back, dropping 57 points with nine made 3-pointers and going 12-of-12 on free throws.

Harden played 46 minutes of a possible 53 and also recorded eight assists, seven rebounds, two steals, and two blocks.

This performance means Harden has had five-straight months with at least one 50-point game, joining Wilt Chamberlain as the only other NBA player to accomplish this.

This season, Harden has scored 50 or more points more times than he’s scored less than 25.

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(Editor’s note: With the 2019-20 season on hiatus due to the NBA’s coronavirus-induced shutdown, we’re looking back at key moments in franchise history. We’ll have more of our Rockets Rewind series coming up, since the stoppage is expected to last for at least several weeks.)

Today in Rockets history: James Harden scores 50 for first time

On March 19, 2015, in front of numerous Rockets legends in town for a 1994-95 title anniversary, James Harden scored 50 for the first time.

In March 2020, Houston Rockets star James Harden has made 50-point games seem almost routine. Though he’s only 30 years old, the former MVP already ranks fourth in NBA history with 23 career games of 50 or more points, and he’s led the league in scoring for three straight years.

Five years ago, though, Harden had yet to do it. Then came March 19, 2015, against the Denver Nuggets.

In a 118-108 victory (box score), Harden scored 50 points on 12-of-27 shooting (44.4%), and he also secured a team-high 10 rebounds. Perhaps best of all, Harden did it in front of an assortment of franchise legends in the front rows at Toyota Center — since the Rockets were celebrating the 20th anniversary of their 1994-95 title team that night.

“That’s a special group right there,” Harden said that night of the former players’ presence, headlined by Hall of Famers Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler. “We’re trying to build something special like they did, [and] to play a game in front of them was definitely an honor.”

For the anniversary, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver spoke in an on-court ceremony at halftime, as did former head coach Rudy Tomjanovich and several other franchise icons. That made for a rare gameday experience and a longer-than-usual halftime for both teams, but it didn’t cool off Harden — who scored 16 points in the fourth and final quarter.

The win improved Houston to 46-22 on the season, and they finished at 56-26 — good for the No. 2 playoff seed in the Western Conference.

“Obviously, he’s probably the MVP this year in the NBA,” Denver guard Randy Foye said of Harden, who added 22 free throws. “He did an unbelievable job of creating and also getting to the free-throw line.”

The league’s players went on to vote for Harden as the league’s MVP at the conclusion of the 2014-15 season.

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