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1991–92 Houston Rockets season

Don Chaney (fired)
Rudy Tomjanovich Home Sports Entertainment

The 1991–92 Houston Rockets season was the 25th season for the Houston Rockets in the National Basketball Association, and their 21st season in Houston, Texas. The Rockets started the regular season by defeating the Los Angeles Lakers at The Summit in double-overtime 126–121, and got off to a fast start winning nine of their first twelves games. However, they would start to struggle losing five consecutive games afterwards, but managed to hold a 25–22 record at the All-Star break.

By February 21, 1992, the team hovered at .500 in winning percentage with a mediocre 26–26 record when head coach Don Chaney was fired, and replaced with assistant Rudy Tomjanovich. Under Tomjanovich, the Rockets would win eleven of their first 15 games. However, the team struggled losing ten of their last 15 games of the season, as Hakeem Olajuwon missed 12 games due to a hamstring injury, which the Rockets' management accused him of faking because of a contract dispute, and suspended him. The Rockets lost their final three games to close the season, finishing in third place in the Midwest Division with a 42–40 record, missing the NBA playoffs by just one game behind the 8th-seeded Lakers, who were without All-Star guard Magic Johnson, who had retired due to his HIV infection.

Olajuwon averaged 21.6 points, 12.1 rebounds, 1.8 steals and 4.3 blocks per game, while Otis Thorpe averaged 17.3 points and 10.5 rebounds per game, and Vernon Maxwell provided the team with 17.2 points, 4.1 assists and 1.3 steals per game, and also led the league with 162 three-point field goals. In addition, Kenny Smith contributed 14.0 points, 6.9 assists and 1.3 steals per game, while sixth man Sleepy Floyd provided with 9.1 points and 2.9 assists per game off the bench, and Buck Johnson contributed 8.6 points per game. Meanwhile, second-year forward Matt Bullard contributed 6.4 points per game, rookie power forward Carl Herrera provided with 4.4 points per game, and defensive forward Larry Smith averaged 2.3 points and 5.7 rebounds per game.

During the NBA All-Star weekend at the Orlando Arena in Orlando, Florida, Olajuwon and Thorpe were both selected for the 1992 NBA All-Star Game, as members of the Western Conference All-Star team; it was Thorpe's first and only All-Star appearance. Olajuwon also finished tied in sixth place in Defensive Player of the Year voting.

Following the season, Johnson signed as a free agent with the Washington Bullets, and Larry Smith signed with the San Antonio Spurs.

Draft picks

Main article: 1991 NBA draft

Round	Pick	Player	Position	Nationality	School or club team
1	20	John Turner	PF	United States	Phillips
2	47	Keith Hughes	PF	United States	Rutgers
2	51	Žan Tabak	C		KK Split (Croatia)

Roster

Rudy Tomjanovich
Carroll Dawson
John Killilea
Calvin Murphy

Regular season

Season standings

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

:z – clinched division title :y – clinched division title :x – clinched playoff spot

Game log

Regular season

|- | 3 | November 5 | Portland | W 106–99 | | | | The Summit

2–1
4
November 7
Cleveland
W 105–86

| | | | The Summit

3–1
5
November 9
Phoenix
W 96–95

| | | | The Summit

4–1
9
November 19
New York
W 90–79

| | | | The Summit

7–2
17
December 7
Utah
L 91–96

| | | | The Summit

9–8
18
December 10
@ Portland
W 108–106

| | | | Memorial Coliseum

10–8
29
December 30
@ Cleveland
L 89–121

| | | | Richfield Coliseum

16–13
35
January 11
Seattle
W 119–115

| | | | The Summit

19–16
38
January 18
@ Utah
L 80–108

| | | | Delta Center

20–18
41
January 25
@ Chicago
L 100–114

| | | | Chicago Stadium

22–19
43
January 30
Chicago
W 105–102

| | | | The Summit

24–19
44
February 1
@ Phoenix
L 92–106

| | | | Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum

24–20
46
February 5
@ Boston
L 85–98

| | | | Boston Garden

25–21
47
February 6
@ New York
L 85–102

| | | | Madison Square Garden

25–22
48
February 11
@ Seattle
L 99–105

| | | | Seattle Center Coliseum

25–23
50
February 14
Boston
W 105–99

| | | | The Summit

26–24
54
February 21
@ Utah
L 97–124

| | | | Delta Center

27–27
59
March 3
@ Phoenix
L 107–112 (2OT)

| | | | Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum

31–28
66
March 15
Utah
W 106–97

| | | | The Summit

36–30
68
March 19
Seattle
L 91–112

| | | | The Summit

37–31
70
March 24
@ Seattle
L 106–128

| | | | Seattle Center Coliseum

37–33
72
March 28
@ Portland
L 95–115

| | | | Memorial Coliseum

37–35
79
April 14
Portland
W 108–96

| | | | The Summit

42–37
80
April 15
@ Utah
L 98–130

| | | | Delta Center

42–38
82
April 19
Phoenix
L 97–100

| | | | The Summit | 42–40

Player statistics

Player	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3FG%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
	80	7	16.0	.459	.386	.760	2.8	.9	.3	.3	6.4
	82	3	20.3	.406	.301	.794	1.8	2.9	.7	.3	9.1
	1	0	2.0				.0	.0	.0	.0	.0
†	8	0	4.3	.364	.000	.667	.3	.6	.0	.0	1.5
	43	7	13.2	.516	.000	.568	2.3	.6	.4	.6	4.4
	48	0	7.9	.414	.286	.926	.9	.7	.4	.0	4.0
†	49	1	15.8	.464	.300	.609	.9	3.4	.8	.1	5.1
	80	69	27.5	.458	.111	.727	3.9	2.0	.9	.6	8.6
	80	80	33.8	.413	.342	.772	3.0	4.1	1.3	.4	17.2
	70	69	37.7	.502	.000	.766	12.1	2.2	1.8	4.3	21.6
	59	5	11.8	.535		.867	2.9	.3	.2	1.1	2.0
	81	80	33.8	.475	.394	.866	2.2	6.9	1.3	.1	14.0
	45	7	17.8	.543	.000	.364	5.7	.7	.5	.2	2.3
	82	82	37.3	.592	.000	.657	10.5	3.0	.6	.5	17.3
	42	0	8.2	.439		.525	1.9	.3	.1	.1	2.8
†	4	0	4.3	.333			.0	.0	.0	.0	.5

Player statistics citation:

References

[https://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/HOU/1992.html 1991-92 Houston Rockets]
Heisler, Mark. (November 2, 1991). "Perkins Is Hurt; Lakers Beaten in Double Overtime: Pro Basketball: Worthy's Three-Pointers Help L.A. Stay in It, But Rockets Prevail, 126-121". Los Angeles Times.
"Los Angeles Lakers at Houston Rockets Box Score, November 1, 1991". Basketball-Reference.
"NBA Games Played on February 6, 1992". Basketball-Reference.
(February 19, 1992). "Struggling Rockets Fire Chaney as Their Coach". Los Angeles Times.
(February 18, 1992). "Rockets Fire Coach Don Chaney". United Press International.
(May 20, 1992). "Tomjanovich Gets Rockets Head Coaching Job". United Press International.
(March 24, 1992). "SPORTS PEOPLE: PRO BASKETBALL; Olajuwon Suspended for His Failure to Play". The New York Times.
(March 24, 1992). "Rockets Suspend Hakeem for Refusing to Play Ball". Deseret News.
Hafner, Dan. (March 25, 1992). "NBA ROUNDUP: Olajuwon Sits Out Again and Rockets Lose Again". Los Angeles Times.
"1991–92 Houston Rockets Schedule and Results". Basketball-Reference.
Stevenson, Richard W.. (November 8, 1991). "BASKETBALL; Magic Johnson Ends His Career, Saying He Has AIDS Infection". The New York Times.
Heisler, Mark. (November 8, 1991). "Magic Johnson's Career Ended by HIV-Positive Test: Sports: The Announcement Stuns His Public. The Lakers Star Emphasizes That He Does Not Have AIDS. "I Plan to Go on Living for a Long Time", He Says". Los Angeles Times.
(November 13, 1991). "Magic Blames Weakness in Numbers: HIV: He Says He Can't Pinpoint When He Was Infected, Because There Were Many Women. He Says He Had No Homosexual Experiences". Los Angeles Times.
"1991–92 Houston Rockets Roster and Stats". Basketball-Reference.
Heisler, Mark. (February 9, 1992). "Comeback or Farewell, a Magical All-Star Game". Los Angeles Times.
(September 13, 2021). "1992 NBA All-Star Recap". NBA.com.
"1992 NBA All-Star Game: West 153, East 113". Basketball-Reference.
(April 30, 1992). "Rodman Yields as Top NBA Defender". Chicago Tribune.
"1991–92 NBA Awards Voting". Basketball-Reference.
Aldridge, David. (September 22, 1992). "Johnson Set to Sign on Bullets' Frontline". The Washington Post.
(September 23, 1992). "SPORTS PEOPLE: PRO BASKETBALL; Bullets Sign Buck Johnson, a Free Agent". The New York Times.

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