A brutal shooting night leaves Houston vulnerable in the standings. A crucial win slipped away, allowing rivals to close the gap for playoff seeding.
Last night's game was on the tail end of a major win for the Rockets. It might not seem like much, but they got their first back to back sweep of the season. They did in poetic fashion too, beating the only other playoff level team to not reach that feat, per Roundtable.
Unfortunately the night ended up being a little disappointing as Kevin Durant’s 32 point performance wasn’t enough. He made twelve of his twenty shot attempts, but even he couldn’t make his threes, shooting only 2/8 from beyond the arc.
Tari Eason shot 4/12 and 2/7 from deep, Şengün was 6/14, while Thompson shot 7/16 and missed half of his twelve free throws. The NBA Box Score shows a brutal shooting night all around for Houston. Whether it was Florida Flu or just an off night, they just couldn’t put the ball in the basket, resulting in a loss.
Coming into this game, Houston would be remaining in 3rd place regardless of the outcome. A win, however, would have really solidified their place. Now they can lose that spot without even playing a game today.
Denver and Minnesota are tied, just one game behind Houston in the conference standings. Both 8.5 games behind OKC, while the Rockets sit 8 games from the top. With the Nuggets hosting the Timberwolves today, one of those teams will inevitably be tied for 3rd place.
If the Nuggets win, their tiebreaker will earn them the 3rd seed over Houston. Coach Udoka and his squad were able to win their lone game against the Wolves this season, giving them the tiebreaker over Minnesota, should they win today.
With just over a month left in the regular season, every game is becoming that much more important. Still muddling around around .500 on the road, the Rockets need every win they can get to secure homecourt advantage in the playoffs.