P.J. Tucker was fortunate enough to land an NBA championship on his resume when he featured on the Milwaukee Bucks midway through the 2020-21 season, but if you ask him whether he's content, the answer is no.
It's because he is, to date, unable to digest that his star-studded, in-form Houston Rockets team in the 2017-18 season could not secure a title.
Moreover, looking back at the season, he says the feeling of coming so close, only to fall short, only gives him chills.
"I still can't watch the playoff series, bro, 'cause we really 'dominated' every game. There are some teams on which you play, and you think we're gonna win every time we step on the floor, no matter who we play 'cause we can change our style and do different things, have different lineups. We would do so much," Tucker said. "We were so locked in, and that's rare."
The 2017-18 season marked Chris Paul 's first in Houston, and alongside James Harden , the Rockets looked nearly unbeatable.
Harden led the league in scoring with 30.4 points along with 8.8 assists per game. CP3, meanwhile, added 18.6 points and 7.9 assists. Around them was one of the league's most well-knit, reliable supporting casts.
Trevor Ariza averaged 11.7 points, Eric Gordon finished as the runner-up for the 6MOTY award after averaging 18.0 points, a 23-year-old Clint Capela added 13.9 points, and Gerald Green contributed 12.1 points per game.
Unsurprisingly, the Rockets were the league's best offensive team, falling just five games short of a 70-win campaign, finishing with an overall record of 65-17.
The Rockets carried that dominance into the postseason. They dispatched the Minnesota Timberwolves and Utah Jazz via gentleman's sweeps to set up a highly anticipated Western Conference Finals showdown against Kevin Durant , Steph Curry and the defending champs, Golden State Warriors . From then on, it was a different story.
For the first five games, the Rockets looked more than capable of ending the Warriors' dynasty. Houston built a 3-2 lead and was just one win away from reaching the NBA Finals. But everything unraveled from there.
In Game 6 at Oracle Arena, Houston entered halftime with a 10-point lead before being completely overwhelmed in the second half. The Dubs outscored them 64-25 after the break, with eight of Houston's 10 players scoring fewer than four points in the half as Golden State forced a decisive Game 7.
Back home, the Rockets once again squandered an 11-point halftime advantage. As KD and Curry combined for 40 points in the second half, the Rockets ended on the wrong side of history, missing 27 three-pointers to ultimately lose the game 101-92.
Even the following year, the Rockets came back from behind to level their playoff series against the Warriors 2-apiece. Yet, two consecutive five-point losses (in Games 5 and 6) and the Rockets got eliminated at the hands of the eventual Western Conference champs.
So, even though the Rockets had talent, they simply were unable to hold onto their nerves in clutch time to eliminate a team that they had already beaten in the regular-season series 2-1.
Tucker may have recalled this heartbreaking loss several times, as it left a deep mark in his heart, but he has no one but himself and his teammates to blame for the result.
This story was originally published by Basketball Network on Jul 31, 2026, where it first appeared in the Off The Court section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
