The 2017-18 Houston Rockets are one of the best teams in the history of the franchise. Technically, they are the best Rockets team ever, as they won a record 65 games, securing the top seed in the Western Conference. 

It didn’t seem like as much of a sure thing leading up to the games, however. A Chris Paul and James Harden backcourt was met with skeptics and naysayers.

Many questioned how two players, who were used to having the ball in their hands all game, would be able to share the ball. And understandably so.

Paul had been the offensive end of every team he’d been on. Harden has been the “system” (as he calls it) of every team he’s started on.

Putting those two players in the same backcourt would either work out brilliantly or fail miserably.

The Rockets were also starting Ryan Anderson at the power forward spot, which is also not necessarily a win on the defensive end. Actually quite the opposite, which eventually led to P.J. Tucker starting in that spot.

Harden and Paul meshed rather seamlessly off the rip, which doesn’t typically happen when two superstars join forces at the onset. For example, LeBron James and Luka Doncic joined forces last season and the Los Angeles Lakers were a first-round exit in the postseason. 

Damian Lillard and Giannis Antetokounmpo joined forces with the Milwaukee Bucks were a first-round exit, even in the Eastern Conference.

It helped that Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni opted to stagger the minutes that Harden and Paul played, ensuring Hall of Fame guard play one way or another. 

Clint Capela emerged as an underrated force at the center position as well. Luc Mbah a Moute was a versatile two-way wing who was pivotal for the team.

Thinking back, that team quite literally had everything. Yet they didn’t win the championship. 

Michael Pina of The Ringer cited that Rockets team as the best team to not make the Finals.

“Not only were they a steamroller, but those Rockets also helped accelerate basketball’s embrace of a two-way style that defines the age we currently live in.

The Rockets finished that regular season with the fourth-highest winning percentage of any team that didn’t reach the Finals in this century. They won 65 games and finished first in net rating, first in offensive rating, and—most notably, considering the long-standing reputations held by their head coach and best player—seventh in defensive rating.”

Pina continued.

“This group was so bold, disciplined, and, for better or worse, depending on whom you ask, highly influential. It’s a shame that they didn’t get to compete in the NBA Finals. Anyone who watched them spend six months blitzing the rest of the league knows that they deserved to be there.”

The Rockets ran into the Golden State Warriors in the Western Conference Finals — a match that was bound to happen as the two teams appeared on a collision course all season. The Rockets suffered a fateful hamstring injury to Chris Paul in the waning moments of Game 5, forcing Paul to miss the final two games of the series — a task too tall for the Rockets to reasonably pull off.

Their place on this list is beyond fair.