1987–88 Houston Rockets season

The 1987–88 Houston Rockets season was the 21st season for the Houston Rockets in the National Basketball Association, and their 17th season in Houston, Texas. During the off-season, the Rockets signed free agents, former All-Star guard World B. Free and Lester Conner.

The Rockets also made two separate trades with the Golden State Warriors; shortly before the start of the regular season in early November, the team traded Dave Feitl to the Warriors in exchange for Purvis Short, then in December traded All-Star center Ralph Sampson, and Steve Harris in exchange for All-Star guard Sleepy Floyd, and All-Star center Joe Barry Carroll; Sampson and head coach Bill Fitch both feuded with each other during the season, which resulted in the trade. The Rockets got off to a 7–6 start in November, and later on held a 25–17 record at the All-Star break. The team won 9 of their 13 games in February, finished in fourth place in the Midwest Division with a 46–36 record, and earned the sixth seed in the Western Conference.

Akeem Olajuwon averaged 22.8 points, 12.1 rebounds, 2.1 steals and 2.7 blocks per game, and was named to the All-NBA First Team, and to the NBA All-Defensive First Team. In addition, Short played a sixth man role off the bench, averaging 14.3 points per game, while Floyd provided the team with 13.1 points and 6.2 assists per game in 59 games after the trade, Barry Carroll contributed 12.0 points, 6.3 rebounds and 1.3 blocks per game off the bench in 63 games, and Rodney McCray provided with 12.4 points and 7.8 rebounds per game, and was also named to the NBA All-Defensive First Team. Meanwhile, Allen Leavell averaged 10.2 points, 5.1 assists and 1.6 steals per game, Jim Petersen provided with 8.9 points and 6.3 rebounds per game, Free contributed 6.4 points per game, and Robert Reid contributed 6.3 points per game.

During the NBA All-Star weekend at the Chicago Stadium in Chicago, Illinois, Olajuwon was selected for the 1988 NBA All-Star Game, as a member of the Western Conference All-Star team. Olajuwon scored 21 points along with 9 rebounds, 2 steals and 2 blocks, despite the Western Conference losing to the Eastern Conference, 138–133. He finished in third place in Defensive Player of the Year voting, and also finished in seventh place in Most Valuable Player voting.

In the Western Conference First Round of the 1988 NBA playoffs, the Rockets faced off against the 3rd–seeded Dallas Mavericks, a team that featured the quartet of All-Star forward Mark Aguirre, Rolando Blackman, Derek Harper and All-Star center James Donaldson. The Rockets lost Game 1 to the Mavericks on the road, 120–110 at the Reunion Arena, but managed to win Game 2 on the road, 119–108 to even the series. However, the Rockets lost the next two games at home, which included a Game 4 loss to the Mavericks at The Summit, 107–97, thus losing the series in four games.

The Rockets finished fifth in the NBA in home-game attendance, with an attendance of 681,051 at The Summit during the regular season. Following the season, Fitch was fired as head coach, while Barry Carroll and Conner were both traded to the New Jersey Nets, McCray and Petersen were both traded to the Sacramento Kings, Reid was dealt to the Charlotte Hornets expansion team, and Free retired.