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1980–81 Houston Rockets season

The 1980–81 Houston Rockets season saw the Rockets lose the NBA Finals. The 1981 Rockets were the first team since the 1959 Minneapolis Lakers to make the NBA Finals with a losing record.

In the playoffs, the Rockets defeated the defending NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers in three games in the First Round, then defeated the San Antonio Spurs in seven games in the Semifinals, and the Kansas City Kings in five games in the conference finals, reaching the NBA Finals for the first time in franchise history, only to fall to the Boston Celtics in six games in the NBA Finals.

Draft picks

[1]

[2]

Roster

Regular season

In the 1980–81 season, after the newly established Dallas Mavericks became the third NBA team in Texas,[3] the NBA restructured the conferences and sent the Rockets, who had previously played in the Eastern Conference, to the Midwest Division of the Western Conference. It was head coach Del Harris's second season, and he led Houston to a 40–42 record. The Rockets tied with the Kansas City Kings for second place in the Midwest Division behind San Antonio. Houston had one game remaining to be played on its regular-season schedule when the team qualified for the playoffs.[4] During the season, point guard Calvin Murphy set two NBA records, both of which had previously been held by Rick Barry. Murphy sank 78 consecutive free throws, to break Barry's mark of 60 set in 1976, and Murphy's season free-throw percentage was .958, breaking Barry's record of .947 set in 1979 (when Barry had been a member of the Rockets).[5]

Season standings

Notes

Record vs. opponents

Game log

Regular season

Playoffs

Player statistics

Season

[6]

Playoffs

Awards and records

Awards

Records

Transactions

Trades

Free agents

See also

References

  1. ^ "1980 NBA Draft on databaseBasketball.com". Archived from the original on February 9, 2012. Retrieved February 27, 2012.
  2. ^ "Houston Rockets Draft Picks". Basketball Reference. Retrieved August 23, 2020.
  3. ^ "Mavs History". NBA.com. Archived from the original on May 11, 2008. Retrieved May 30, 2008.
  4. ^ "1980-81 Houston Rockets". Basketball-Reference.com. Archived from the original on May 17, 2008. Retrieved May 30, 2008.
  5. ^ "NBA.com Calvin Murphy Bio". NBA. Archived from the original on February 20, 2009. Retrieved February 18, 2009.
  6. ^ "1980-81 Houston Rockets Roster and Stats".