By almost any metric, the Houston Rockets are one of the NBA’s better franchises. In addition to representing the fourth-largest city in the United States, they are one of only 11 clubs to win multiple championships (1993-94, 1994-95) and they rank 11th among the league’s 30 franchises in all-time winning percentage (.515).
That winning clip, of course, was higher before this rebuilding run of the past three seasons, which allowed Houston to get three straight top-four draft picks. But after stockpiling first-round talent from those drafts and supplementing it with a new head coach (Ime Udoka) and key veterans (Fred VanVleet, Dillon Brooks and Jeff Green) in the 2023 offseason, a resurgence may not be far away.
Historically, the Rockets are a proud franchise, and they’re striving to return to their past glory. Since debuting as the San Diego Rockets in 1967-68, a wealth of basketball talent has passed through the club: Hall of Famers, MVPs and all-time greats.
Now, in this dull part of the offseason, we’re looking back at some of the history the Rockets have produced during their NBA years.
This edition looks at elite scorers. Per StatMuse, eight players have scored 50-plus points in a regular-season game for the Rockets.
Ordered by number of 50-point games, those players are:
James Harden: 23 times
List of 50-point games by James Harden
Harden holds the franchise record of 61 points in a single game, which he accomplished twice in early 2019.
Hakeem Olajuwon: 2 times
Moses Malone: 2 times
Elvin Hayes: 2 times
Calvin Murphy (once)
Vernon Maxwell (once)
Eric Gordon (once)
Kevin Porter Jr. (once)
