Rockets give SURPRISING Updates... This has SERIOUS implications | Houston Rockets News

The Houston Rockets have given us some surprising updates on one of their star players. This has some serious implications moving forward with the Rockets already clinched a playoff spot, but aiming for that number two seed in the Western Conference. Welcome in here to Rockets Digest. I am Jace Andrews. We appreciate you taking the time out of your day to join us. Hit that subscribe button. You'll have Rockets news at your fingertips and become one of the first 100 subscribers on what is going to be the biggest Rockets channel here on YouTube. All right, the guy I want to talk about today is Amen Thompson. He has been absent the past now seven games or so. He was there when the Rockets started this now eight-game win streak. But since then, he's been missing with a knee injury. And so the Rockets are hoping to get him back in the very near future. That was the goal. But we got some reports that suggest it could be even sooner. Actually, could be tomorrow. We'll start first here with this report, though, on Amen Thompson from ESPN's Tim McMahon saying, quote, he'll be back in March when exactly I couldn't tell you, but he's not going to be out long. So that's report number one, which is a good thing. I'm in some ways we didn't know that we had been talking about Amon Thompson as he was going to be out for a two. week period. Obviously, he's missed about seven games now, so he's been about a week, a week and a couple days out and now it's okay. He should be getting pretty close to that first timeline we were given on Amon Thompson. The thing is, with the type of injury he had and the swelling that was seen, it was a little worrisome that he could be out for a longer period of time, potentially not seeing him until April. So getting that report yesterday on a show from ESPN's Tim McMahon and saying he'll be back in March was step number one to the good news. Step number two, though, came from head coach Ime Udoka when he took to the mic and said this. If he does that, could be Miami. Could be when we get back. Swelling has gone down, pain's gone down, flexibility, mobility has gone up, and he's just got to go through a contact portion. Once he does that, we're going to see how he reacts to that, and he'll be good to go after. So hopefully, sooner, Then later in the quote, I've been Thompson. Welcome to the game against the Miami Heat is what I'm hearing from that. I know that Amen being a young player and a really big piece of this Rockets future and already having the playoffs for Houston. You want to be careful with them. And I understand that to some degree, but then I sit here and look at this Western conference standing and I, and I see how tight everything is and how the Rockets are in second place, but it's by a game and behind them is the Los Angeles Lakers with Luka Doncic and LeBron James and then you have the Denver Nuggets with Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray you have the Grizzlies not too far behind them and that is a very tight bunch there from seeds two through five not to mention the Warriors pretty close behind that there is not a lot of separation in this Western Conference and I want the two seed and the Rockets want the two seed and the reason behind that is because first of all you have home court advantage throughout the entirety of the playoffs until you reach that Eastern or Western Conference game against what would probably be against the Thunder but also just what I said there you don't have to face the Thunder until the Western Conference finals and I know the same things are being said about the Rockets for what I'm about to say about the Thunder but the Rockets or rather the Thunder are still a young team yes they were the number one seed last year yes they went to the playoffs and showed that youngness and everybody's saying okay, they got that year out of the way, they're going to go out, they're going to perform this year, and it's going to work. However, when you think about the way this team has really just come out here, played, shown out, I believe that the Rockets could take out the Oklahoma City Thunder, and I think the Rockets might not have to play the Thunder because, again, the Thunder are still so young, there's so much pressure riding on them, there's the potential that we don't see them in the playoffs. And that's why Amen Thompson coming back could be a huge thing because you want to keep that two seed. And that's where we go now into his stats. He has been so great this year. And before he went down, him, Jamal Murray, and Alperen Sengun were really the base of this team with Fred VanVleet kind of in and out of the lineup due to injury. There was some kind of questions with how Ime Udoka was doing this portions of lineup. And now we have here Amen Thompson, who will hopefully be back at least if it's not tomorrow against Miami. Maybe it's in a game in the near future, but he's 22 years old, 6'7". He's had some great stats this year. The rebounding is what I look to most because when you think about this eight-game win streak and what Ime Udoka has kind of done in this win streak with the double big lineup, being able to really go out there and kind of find new ways to win every single night, I'm so excited to see what Udoka, what this team comes up and how they play when you have Amon Thompson and in some ways the Rockets are not the most depthful team they don't have a ton of depth but when you have Amon Thompson i think in a lot of ways you have seven players that could all start on an NBA starting five with Fred VanVleet Dylan Brooks Amon Thompson Alperen Sengun Jabari Parker Jr and then of course you're forgetting Tari Eason as well i mean there are a bunch of guys that go out there and start on a night in and a night out basis and I didn't even mention the player who has been on fire the past couple games and that's Jalen Green we saw him last night score 26 against the Magic he scored 28 against Chicago in fact in this eight game win streak he has been the top scorer three of the eight games which is pretty good considering the only other guy to be top scorer in two of the games was Jabari Smith Jr. when he scored 20 against the Magic on the 10th and then 30 against the Sixers on the 17th in that overtime victory with a spectacular play from none other than Alperin Shingun. And that's exactly why the Rockets have gotten that playoff spot in a clinch scenario. Now it's all about for the Rockets, go out there and retain that two-seed. I can't tell you how important that is, and it is a young team. Ime Udoka, I think, is a more experienced coach people are giving him credit for. Obviously, we know his history in Boston and the way he was able to command that team. I think he's doing the same thing here with the Houston Rockets. And now it's time to put that on display here for the rest of the NBA to see. I'm excited for the NBA to see it. I know that there has been talks about it and that the hope is that the deep playoff run is coming for the Houston Rockets and having Amon Thompson back and getting that two spot is going to be a very key thing. But the fact of the matter is this quote says it all from Mr. Ime Udoka. If he does that, he could be could be Miami. I'm hoping we see Amon Thompson tomorrow night. That's my hope, and, you know, the way this team has set up itself, the eight-game win streak, you have Alperen Sengun going off, you have Jalen Green going off on certain nights. It seems like this is the time for the Rockets to strike and prove that they are the two seed. They had it for a while, obviously, before the All-Star break. They were the clear number two seed in terms of, you know, record. But now the West has gotten a little tighter, and it's time for the Rockets to take a commanding hold of that number two seed and getting Amon Thompson back in the schedule they have coming forward. It is a perfect storm for this Houston Rockets team and coach Ime Udoka. We appreciate your time. And again, make sure you hit that subscribe button. Go down there. And if you made it to the end of the video, you'll obviously enjoy the content. So hit that subscribe button. That way you get our content right at your fingertips. It's free. And the best part about it, you're going to get Rockets content from us all the way down into the playoffs and pass that into the summer all year long. So we again appreciate your time, and for now, we will see you next time on Rockets Digest.