1980-81 Houston Rockets (40-42)

Coach: Del Harris

During their tenure in the Eastern Conference, the Rockets always lost to a powerful team in the playoffs (i.e. Washington, Boston, Atlanta). But with a 3rd Texas team (the Dallas Mavericks) joining th NBA, all 3 Texas teams were moved to the Western Conference's Midwest Division. But Moses Malone led the team and the league with 27.8 PPG and 14.8 RPG. The Rockets had a mediocre 40-42 record that snook them into the playoffs. With this in mind, Mike Dunleavy knew that the Rockets would lose in the 1st round. So he was about to move to his summer home in Florida. Little would he know that he would rely on room service for the next month-and-a-half. In the opening round, they met the defending champion Lakers. After Houston won game 1 in Los Angeles, the Rockets would lose the next contest. But since this was a best-of-three series, Houston would stun the defending champions by going to the next round. After beating the Spurs in a hard-fought 7-game series, the Rockets met the Kansas City Kings in the Western Conference Finals. After splitting the first two contests, the Rockets would win the next two in Kansas City's Kemper Arena. Back in the Summit, Houston would win the contest 97-86 to advance to their first NBA finals.