page_title: History of the Houston Rockets
section_title: 2002–2011: The Yao Ming era
hierarchical_section_title: History of the Houston Rockets / 2002–2011: The Yao Ming era
caption_attribution_description: Houston Rockets and Utah Jazz playing at EnergySolutions Arena in 2008
context_page_description: The Houston Rockets are an American professional basketball team based in Houston, Texas. The team plays in the Southwest Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association. The team was established in 1967, and played in San Diego, California for four years, before moving to Houston, Texas.
  In the Rockets' debut season, they won 15 games. After drafting Elvin Hayes first overall in the 1968 NBA Draft, they made their first appearance in the playoffs in 1969. After Hayes was traded, Moses Malone replaced him. Malone won two Most Valuable Player awards during his time in Houston, and he led the Rockets to the 1978 conference finals in his first year with the Rockets. He also took the Rockets to the NBA Finals in 1981, but they were defeated in six games by the Boston Celtics.
  Two years after advancing to the finals, the Rockets traded Malone and had two losing seasons, with the first having a franchise-low 14 victories. This gave Houston two straight first overall picks, used to bring future Hall of Famers Ralph Sampson and Hakeem Olajuwon, who eventually got the Rockets all the way to the 1986 Finals, where they lost again to Boston.
context_section_description: With the first overall pick in the 2002 NBA Draft, the Rockets selected Yao Ming, a 7-foot 6-inch Chinese center. The Rockets' record improved by 15 games, but they missed the playoffs by one game.
  In the following season, Houston began playing in their new arena, the Toyota Center, and redesigned their uniforms and logo, as long-time coach Tomjanovich resigned after being diagnosed with bladder cancer, and was replaced by Jeff Van Gundy. The Rockets finished the regular season with a record of 45–37, and earned their first playoff berth since 1999, but the Lakers again handed the Rockets a loss in the first round.
caption: The Rockets playing the Utah Jazz in the 2008 playoffs
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