This has SERIOUS Implications for the Rockets... | Houston Rockets News

The Houston Rockets have the two biggest games of the year coming up, including one against the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference. And whether the Rockets win or lose these games, it will have serious implications on their future heading into playoff season. Welcome in to Rockets Digest. I'm Jace Andrews, and I appreciate you joining us here on the show. And before we get going, make sure you hit that subscribe button. We're still on the way to 100 subscribers, and I know you have always wanted to say, well, I've been with them since 100 subscribers. Well, guess what? You have the chance to do that today, because I guarantee you this channel is going to be flying off the rims by this summer. So hit that subscribe button, be one of the first 100 members of the Rockets Digest community. Let's get going here, and it's no secret that the Western Conference is one of the most, I guess, compact conference layouts we've seen in really the past five or six years. And obviously, the Rockets sit atop of what we're going to call the others. Obviously, Oklahoma City, they're not going to lose that top spot. They're going to be the number one seed in the Western Conference, no question about that. They've had a great year. 61-12 is an incredible record, including 31-5 at home. They're going to be the top seed. But the others is where things get a lot trickier. You have Houston, who obviously they're riding the tails in the big, big winning streak and winning the last 11 out of 12 now. But there's still not a big gap between them and teams below them. You have Denver Nuggets. You're going to play them in your final game of the year. You're going to play the Los Angeles Lakers. We're going to play them coming up. You have the Grizzlies, who are 17 games back. You're 13 and a half. But in the last column, there's only three games separating you two. And that's where we head into this report as the NBA is calling this the biggest two-game set for the Rockets. And we go to NBA analyst John Schumann saying, quote, the Rockets are at the top of the quote-unquote everybody else tier having won 11 of their last 12 games but there's still just three games in the loss column ahead of the fifth place Grizzlies and that's where things can get a little scary because the schedule for the Rockets it does not get any easier you have a game against Phoenix this Sunday and as I've mentioned Phoenix is not a team that is above 500 however they are peaking here at the at the right time their last five games they beat toronto at home beat chicago which we just saw what chicago did to the lakers the calves oh yeah that's the top team in the east right now they beat them beat milwaukee by two points they did lose to the celtics at home on the five game home streak but the point still stands is that the Rockets' final five games are going to be some tough ones. Now, you have some, I'm not going to say easies thrown in there, because we saw what happened to Utah when they played them in Utah the first time. Obviously, they got back at them by winning yesterday. But you have a game at Phoenix, which obviously showed what they've been doing. You have a game in Los Angeles, who are the fourth seed right now. They're vying for that number two spot. It's nationally televised on TNT. That is the Monday night game. and that puts a little bit of a pressure on some young teams obviously then you get Utah but then you have an Oklahoma City squad at home luckily in Houston but a team that is really streaking at the right time the one benefit to that is Oklahoma City probably will be playing all their starters to a I'm going to say a elite level just because they've already locked up that one see there's no reason to keep playing them and you know risk injury coming in Golden State and LA those are two you know should be wins from what you're looking at here in the Western Conference But again, that's not to say that those two teams are, you know, washovers. The Clippers are technically right now in the actual playoffs as the sixth seed. And then, of course, the Warriors, they're right behind them in the seven slot. So it is going to be two tough games in that aspect. And then to finish off, you have a very tough final games there at Los Angeles and versus Denver. That is going to be a tough schedule. And so that is why these next two games are so, so, so important. And I want to continue on on this NBA analyst report as John Schumann, we bring him back in saying, quote, every win on this 11 and one stretch has come against the team currently below 500. But six of their final seven games are within the top eight in the West, with two of those coming at Crypto Arena. And the first of those two is Monday when the Rockets will be at a rest disadvantage, end quote. Now, what he means by rest disadvantage is that's going to be on the back of a back-to-back night. You're going to be playing the Lakers after you just played Phoenix in Phoenix. So, you're playing a game, you're going to Crypto Arena, and you're playing the Lakers, who right now are the 4C. That's going to be a tough ask for a young Rockets team. Especially when they're back-to-backs, they've not been that amazing. Let's just start with that. They've not been, you know, the greatest thing when they play back-to-back nights. In fact, for a long time, that back-to-back game, they would actually were 0 for 8, I believe, in their first back-to-back game. So it's not a great situation there, especially when you talk about the caliber of opponent and being on the road in that back-to-back game. But the thing that I do want to bring up that I think he maybe is not giving enough credit to is this Rockets team and their record of teams, record against teams above 500. because yes he said it and it is true of the 11 of you or excuse me of your 11 wins in this win streak all of them are teams below 500 but that is not indicative of what this Rockets team has done from the beginning of the season to now if you look here in the 2024-2025 regular season versus teams above 500 that's the two stats we're looking for at the bottom of your screen they are 28 and seven that's an 80 winning percentage in teams over 500 versus teams below 500 you have a 20 and 19 record so you're saying that the past win last night against utah was the one that got them to above 500 against the 500 teams i think that's a little bit misconstrued in the way he put that and the rockets are good against top caliber teams they played very well against the thunder in the season they played very well against the calves early on the season they played very well against the Celtics earlier on in the season. And now they have a chance to prove that again because they've got two matchups against the Lakers coming up. One of those being away, obviously, in a back-to-back night. This is going to be the most crucial part of the season and they are in a very good spot. The thing that I want to sit here and almost warn about, though, is you want to be hot going into the playoffs. And I'm not saying this is going to happen, but as we know teams who have you know gotten these win streaks later on in the season tend to sometimes fall off in the last five or six games that cannot happen to the Rockets as young as a team as they are being as you know fresh into the playoffs as they will be you cannot go on the wrong foot that's not going to start off your team on the right note it's not going to be a positive thing and it's going to become a very tough mental challenge when you make it into that first playoff game against whoever it might be so keeping that two slot which again thankfully you've done a good job but really increasing your lead in the west to keep that two you've now gotten above denver and los angeles by two games but still the point stands that you're going to have to play these teams in what will be very high caliber games los angeles this monday los angeles on friday april 11th denver april 13th two games in crypto arena both against the lakers who are you know obviously with luca and lebron fighting for that number three seed fighting for the two seed for that matter it's going to be a tough tough last stretch here and i think that's the best thing for the rockets in a lot of ways obviously i don't want what could happen and that could be them you know falling on their face losing the next five whatever games and going to playoffs and a tough stretch. But Ime Odoka has experience in the playoffs. Ime Odoka has experience with the Celtics, obviously getting to where he got with them. And we'll talk about the ending, but the promise is there ahead of them that can make it to where they go on. They continue this win streak. And you're talking about going into playoffs on the backs of a 15 game win in 20 game streak, you know, winning 15 of the last 20 games going into playoffs. That would be huge. that is really what needs to happen for the Rockets to continue to kind of feed off themselves and be successful in a lot of facets and I expect them to do so but these two games are huge you cannot start off on the wrong foot versus Phoenix and you can obviously expect a very big performance on Monday and if you get that win you're talking about a very different outlook for this team for the last you know five or so games of the season because you wouldn't but you win those back-to-back games not only are you getting two wins you're pushing the lakers with a four seed back whatever happens in the nuggets happens you're keeping a two game advantage on the nuggets with five or six games left to go it puts you at a spot that you have not been at in i want to say decades where you have that two seed almost you know in your grasp you just got to hold on to it will the rockets hold on to it though that's what we'll find out again i want you to go down there and in the comment section let me know what you think the rockets final record will be in the past eight games coming up? Will they go 5-3? Will they go 3-5? Will they go 1-7? Let me know the record in their final eight games down in the comments section. And for now, peace out, Rockets Nation.