The

1996–97 NBA season The 1996–97 NBA season was the 51st season of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The league used this season to celebrate its 50th anniversary, which included the unveiling of the league's list of its 50 greatest players. This particu ...

was the 30th season for the

Houston Rockets The Houston Rockets are an American professional basketball team based in Houston. The Rockets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southwest Division (NBA), Southwest Division of the Western Conference (NBA) ...

in the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

, and their 26th season in

Houston, Texas Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

. During the off-season, the Rockets acquired All-Star forward

Charles Barkley Charles Wade Barkley (born February 20, 1963) is an American former professional basketball player who is a television analyst on NBA on TNT, TNT and CBS Sports. Nicknamed "Sir Charles", "the Bread Truck", and "the Round Mound of Rebound", ...

from the

Phoenix Suns The Phoenix Suns are an American professional basketball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. The Suns compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division (NBA), Pacific Division of the Western Conference (NBA), We ...

, and signed free agents

Kevin Willis Kevin Alvin Willis (born September 6, 1962) is an American former professional basketball player mostly known for playing with the Atlanta Hawks in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was a 7-foot power forward/ center. Excluding playe ...

, Brent Price, undrafted rookie guard Matt Maloney, and re-signed former Rockets forward and three-point specialist Matt Bullard, who was a member of the championship team from the

1994 NBA Finals The 1994 NBA Finals was the championship series of the National Basketball Association's (NBA) 1993–94 season, and the culmination of the season's playoffs. The Western Conference champion Houston Rockets played the Eastern Conference cham ...

. The Rockets began the regular season with a 21–2 start, but later on struggled posting a six-game losing streak between January and February, and held a 32–16 record at the All-Star break. At mid-season, the team signed free agents Eddie Johnson and Sedale Threatt, as the Rockets won 14 of their final 17 games of the season, finishing in second place in the Midwest Division with a 57–25 record, earning the #3 seed in the Western Conference, and qualifying for the

NBA playoffs The NBA playoffs is the annual Playoffs, postseason Tournament#Knockout tournaments, tournament of the National Basketball Association (NBA) held to determine the league champion. Since 1949, the four-round, best-of-seven tournament is held afte ...

for the fifth consecutive year.

Hakeem Olajuwon Hakeem Abdul Olajuwon ( ; ; born January 21, 1963), nicknamed "the Dream", is a Nigerian and American former professional basketball player. From 1984 to 2002, he played Center (basketball), center in the National Basketball Association (NB ...

averaged 23.2 points, 9.2 rebounds and 2.2 blocks per game, and was named to the

All-NBA First Team The All-NBA Team is an annual National Basketball Association (NBA) honor bestowed on the best players in the league following every NBA season. The voting is conducted by a global panel of sportswriters and broadcasters. The team has been sel ...

, and to the

NBA All-Defensive Second Team The NBA All-Defensive Team is an annual National Basketball Association (NBA) honor given since the 1968–69 NBA season to the best defensive players during the regular season. The All-Defensive Team is generally composed of ten players in two ...

, while Barkley averaged 19.2 points and 13.5 rebounds per game, but only played 53 games due to ankle and hip injuries, and

Clyde Drexler Clyde Austin Drexler (born June 22, 1962) is an American former professional basketball player who currently works as the commissioner of the Big3 3-on-3 basketball league. Nicknamed "Clyde the Glide", he played 15 seasons in the National Bask ...

provided the team with 18.0 points, 6.0 rebounds, 5.7 assists and 1.9 steals per game, along with 119 three-point field goals, but only played 62 games due to a hamstring injury. In addition,

Mario Elie Mario Antoine Elie (born November 26, 1963) is an American former professional basketball coach and player in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Elie grew up in New York City and played college basketball for the American International ...

contributed 11.7 points and 4.0 assists per game, along with 120 three-point field goals, while Willis provided with 11.2 points and 7.5 rebounds per game, and Maloney contributed 9.4 points and 3.7 assists per game, led the Rockets with 154 three-point field goals, and was named to the

NBA All-Rookie Second Team The NBA All-Rookie Team is an annual National Basketball Association (NBA) honor given since the 1962–63 NBA season to the top rookies during the regular season. Voting is conducted by the NBA head coaches who are not allowed to vote for play ...

. Olajuwon, Barkley, Drexler and head coach

Rudy Tomjanovich Rudolph Tomjanovich Jr. (born November 24, 1948) is an American former professional basketball player and coach. He won two NBA Championships with the Houston Rockets (1994, 1995) and coached Team USA to the gold medal in men's basketball at the ...

all represented the Western Conference during the 1997 NBA All-Star Game in

Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–United States border, Canada–U.S. maritime border ...

. However, Barkley and Drexler did not play due to injuries; it was also the final All-Star selections for Olajuwon, Barkley and Drexler. Olajuwon also finished in seventh place in

Most Valuable Player In team sports, a most valuable player (MVP) award is an honor typically bestowed upon an individual (or individuals, in the instance of a tie) whose individual performance is the greatest in an entire league, for a particular competition, or ...

voting, and Elie finished tied in sixth place in Defensive Player of the Year voting. In the Western Conference First Round of the 1997 NBA playoffs, the Rockets swept the

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in three straight games. In the Western Conference Semi-finals, they jumped out to a 3–1 series lead over the Seattle SuperSonics. However, the SuperSonics would win the next two games to even the series at three games a piece. The Rockets would win Game 7 and advanced to the Western Conference Finals, where they faced regular season MVP

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and the

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. The Jazz won the first two games at home, but the Rockets would even the series at two games a piece as Johnson hit a three-point buzzer beater to win Game 4, 95–92 at home. However, the Rockets would lose to the Jazz in six games. The Jazz lost in the

1997 NBA Finals The 1997 NBA Finals was the championship series of the National Basketball Association's (NBA) 1996–97 season and conclusion of the season's playoffs. The Western Conference champion Utah Jazz took on the defending NBA champion and Easte ...

to the defending champion

Chicago Bulls The Chicago Bulls are an American professional basketball team based in Chicago. The Bulls compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Central Division of the Eastern Conference. The team was founded on January 16 ...

in six games. Following the season, Threatt retired and three-point specialist

Sam Mack Sam Mack (born May 26, 1970) is an American former professional basketball player. The 6'7" shooting guard from Dolton, Illinois played with five different NBA teams over a 10-year span and has had a 20-year international basketball career. Col ...

was traded to the

Vancouver Grizzlies The Vancouver Grizzlies were a Canadian professional basketball team based in Vancouver. The Grizzlies competed in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Midwest Division (NBA), Midwest Division of the Western Conference ( ...

. The Rockets did not reach the conference finals again until

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

, where they were defeated by the

Golden State Warriors The Golden State Warriors are an American professional basketball team based in San Francisco. The Warriors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference. Founded in 1946 i ...

in five games.

Offseason

During the 1996 offseason,

was traded from the

in exchange for

Sam Cassell Samuel James Cassell Sr. (born November 18, 1969) is an American professional basketball coach and former point guard who serves as an assistant coach for the Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Drafted 24th overall in th ...

Robert Horry Robert Keith Horry ( ; born August 25, 1970) is an American former professional basketball player and current sports commentator. Horry was a member of seven championship winning teams and is considered, by some, to be one of the most clutch sho ...

, Mark Bryant, and Chucky Brown. Barkley chose Houston specifically because he hoped to win an NBA Championship with the team.

Draft picks

Roster

Regular season

In his first game with the Houston Rockets,

got 33 rebounds, a career high.

Season standings

:c – clinched conference title :y – clinched division title :x – clinched playoff spot

Record vs. opponents

Game log

Playoffs

, - align="center" bgcolor="#ccffcc" , 1 , April 24 ,

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

W 112–95
,

(21) ,

(13) ,

(8) , The Summit
16,285 , 1–0 , - align="center" bgcolor="#ccffcc" , 2 , April 26 ,

W 96–84
,

(20) ,

(15) ,

(7) , The Summit
16,285 , 2–0 , - align="center" bgcolor="#ccffcc" , 3 , April 29 , @

W 125–120
, Matt Maloney (26) ,

(11) ,

(9) ,

Target Center Target Center is a multi-purpose arena located in Minneapolis that opened in 1990. It hosts major family shows, concerts, sporting events, graduations and private events. Target Corporation, founded and headquartered in Minneapolis since 1902, h ...

19,006 , 3–0 , - , - align="center" bgcolor="#ccffcc" , 1 , May 5 ,

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

W 112–102
,

(22) ,

(11) ,

(8) , The Summit
16,285 , 1–0 , - align="center" bgcolor="#ffcccc" , 2 , May 7 ,

L 101–106
,

(25) ,

(12) ,

(8) , The Summit
16,285 , 1–1 , - align="center" bgcolor="#ccffcc" , 3 , May 9 , @

W 97–93
,

(24) ,

(11) , Sedale Threatt (5) , KeyArena
17,072 , 2–1 , - align="center" bgcolor="#ccffcc" , 4 , May 11 , @

W 110–106 (OT)
, Maloney, Barkley (26) ,

(15) ,

(9) , KeyArena
17,072 , 3–1 , - align="center" bgcolor="#ffcccc" , 5 , May 13 ,

L 94–100
,

(31) ,

(20) ,

(6) , The Summit
16,285 , 3–2 , - align="center" bgcolor="#ffcccc" , 6 , May 15 , @

L 96–99
,

(30) ,

(12) ,

(6) , KeyArena
17,072 , 3–3 , - align="center" bgcolor="#ccffcc" , 7 , May 17 ,

W 96–91
,

(24) ,

(14) ,

(11) , The Summit
16,285 , 4–3 , - , - align="center" bgcolor="#ffcccc" , 1 , May 19 , @

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

L 86–101
,

(30) ,

(13) ,

(5) , Delta Center
19,911 , 0–1 , - align="center" bgcolor="#ffcccc" , 2 , May 21 , @

L 92–104
,

(30) ,

(12) ,

(4) , Delta Center
19,911 , 0–2 , - align="center" bgcolor="#ccffcc" , 3 , May 23 ,

W 118–100
, Eddie Johnson (31) ,

(16) , three players tied (6) , The Summit
16,285 , 1–2 , - align="center" bgcolor="#ccffcc" , 4 , May 25 ,

W 95–92
,

(27) ,

(16) , Matt Maloney (6) , The Summit
16,285 , 2–2 , - align="center" bgcolor="#ffcccc" , 5 , May 27 , @

L 91–96
,

(33) ,

(10) ,

(5) , Delta Center
19,911 , 2–3 , - align="center" bgcolor="#ffcccc" , 6 , May 29 ,

L 100–103
,

(33) ,

(11) , Sedale Threatt (9) , The Summit
16,285 , 2–4 , -

Player statistics

Season

Playoffs

Player Statistics Citation:

Awards and records

Awards

* Matt Maloney,

NBA All-Rookie Team The NBA All-Rookie Team is an annual National Basketball Association (NBA) honor given since the 1962–63 NBA season to the top rookies during the regular season. Voting is conducted by the NBA head coaches who are not allowed to vote for play ...

2nd Team

Records

Transactions

Trades

Free agents

Additions

Subtractions

Player Transactions Citation:

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:1996-97 Houston Rockets Season Houston Rockets seasons 1996 in sports in Texas 1997 in sports in Texas 1996 in Houston 1997 in Houston

Offseason

Draft picks

Roster

Regular season

Season standings

Record vs. opponents

Game log

Playoffs

Player statistics

Season

Playoffs

Awards and records

Awards

Records

Transactions

Trades

Free agents

Additions

Subtractions

See also

References