10 best teams that fell short of winning NBA title

7. 2017-18 Houston Rockets

In their first season under coach Mike D’Antoni, the Houston Rockets turned the NBA on its ear, taking an NBA-record 3,306 3-point attempts and winning 55 games before falling in the Western Conference Semifinals.

In 2017-18, the Rockets blew the top off things. They made a splash by acquiring point guard Chris Paul from the LA Clippers to pair with All-NBA guard James Harden and the rest was history. Quite literally.

Houston became the first team in NBA history to shoot more 3-pointers than 2-pointers in a season and Harden exploded to a career-best 30.4 points per game to win his first scoring title as well as being named NBA MVP. Houston, meanwhile, won a franchise-record 65 games despite Paul missing 24 games with various ailments and Harden sitting out 10.

The Rockets won 65 games with just one player, P.J. Tucker, playing in more than 74 games and despite using 17 different starting lineups, none for more than 17 games.

Houston rolled over the Minnesota Timberwolves in five games in the first round and after splitting the first two games of the Western Conference Semifinals at home closed out the Utah Jazz in a five-game series, as well.

Taking on the defending champion Golden State Warriors in the Western Conference Finals, the teams split the first four games — with each team winning once on the other’s home court — before Houston grabbed a 3-2 series lead with a 98-94 win in Game 5.

It was a costly victory, however, as Paul would miss the final two games of the series with a hamstring injury and Golden State rolled to a 115-86 win at home in Game 6 before closing out the Rockets at Toyota Center in Game 7, 101-92.

Harden scored 64 points over the final two games, but was just 22-for-53 from the floor and 6-for-25 from 3-point range and committed 14 turnovers.