Daryl Morey picks the top three Rockets games from his tenure - Rockets Wire

In a Facebook Q&A with fans, Rockets GM Daryl Morey offered insight on his favorite games over 14 years in Houston.

Morey joined the Rockets before the 2006-07 season. Since then, they’ve become one of the NBA’s winningest franchises, with not a single losing record during Morey’s long tenure.

Naturally, that extended run of winning basketball has led to many memorable games, especially in the playoffs. From the Q&A:

Question: Daryl, what are some of your favorite games?

Morey: Game 5 at home versus Warriors in 2018, Lakers game for win 22 (in 2008), Game 6 in LA versus Clippers (in 2015)

Morey’s replies can be read in the comments section below the team’s documentary about the historic winning streak of the 2007-08 Rockets, capped off by win No. 22 versus future Hall of Famer Kobe Bryant and the eventual Western Conference champion Los Angeles Lakers.

It’s hard to argue with Morey’s choices. While the 2008 game against the Lakers came in the regular season, it finished off what was then the No. 2 winning streak in NBA history, and the longest in over 35 years.

Meanwhile, the 2015 and 2018 choices were major playoff milestones. Facing elimination in Game 6 of the second round at Staples Center, Josh Smith and Corey Brewer led an epic comeback against the Clippers as the Rockets rallied from a 19-point deficit late in the third quarter.

That forced a Game 7 back in Houston, which the Rockets won to advance to the franchise’s first Western Conference Finals in 18 years.

In 2018, the Game 5 victory over the Warriors put the Rockets just one victory away from knocking off one of the league’s most talented teams of all-time and advancing to the NBA Finals for the first time since the team’s most recent NBA championship in the 1994-95 season.

The 2017-18 Rockets, who went a franchise-best 65-17 during the regular season, would have then been significant favorites over Cleveland to win the 2018 NBA Finals — since the Cavaliers were only 50-32 and playing out of a weaker Eastern Conference.

Unfortunately, the Rockets couldn’t finish off the Warriors to get there, with future Hall of Famer Chris Paul unable to return to the series after pulling his hamstring in the final minute of that Game 5 victory.

Nonetheless, that Game 5 triumph was by far the closest the Rockets have come to the NBA title in Morey’s 14 years in Houston, which understandably makes it a memorable night for the team’s architect.