进入1997年后，火箭距离人们的期望值越来越远，目前客场连负7杨，名次已跌到西部联盟第四，就连中西部赛区的头把交椅也被“老牛拉破车”式的爵士队夺走，赛季一开始那个与公牛较劲的火箭队不复存在了。上两个赛季，火箭队打到这个时候成绩都不好，主教练托姆贾诺维奇称之谓“ Into 1997, the rocket away from people’s expectations farther and farther, the current away even negative 7 Yang, ranking has dropped to the fourth in the Western Conference, even the first place in the Midwest Division has also been “old bull pull broken car” type Jazz team took away the season starting with the Bulls and Rockets no longer exist. The past two seasons, the Rockets hit the grades are not good at this time, coach Tomamjanovich called "