Can’t Be Caught Now.
The Houston Rockets, with a 52-27 record, have clinched the second seed in the NBA Western Conference. This comes as a result of their two recent wins over OKC and Golden State, and a Laker loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder tonight. The Rockets will have home court advantage over every Western Conference team in the playoffs, bar OKC. Should they make the NBA Finals, somehow, the Rockets would not have home court advantage over the Celtics or Cavaliers, but would, most likely, have it over any other Eastern Conference foe, including the Knicks. (Dreams are free.)
The Lakers, as was predicted earlier by many, did not rest their starters today, and neither did OKC. The Lakers had defeated OKC in their previous matchup, largely on the strength of essentially 50% 3 point shooting on high volume. Tonight they shot 45% on 40 attempts, and had 37 free throws to OKC’s 20. The Lakers lost anyway, largely off turnovers, and the Thunder getting up 104 shots at 50% to the Lakers 80. All this to say, it seems possible the Thunder aren’t in fact, cooked.
The Rockets, will. as everyone knew well in advance, finish below the Thunder in the Western Conference standings, but above literally everyone else. Some might say they saw this coming before the season began. I certainly didn’t. I did predict the Rockets at, I’m fairly sure, 52 wins, which is looking good. I didn’t think they’d be #2, or that 52 to 55 wins would take the #2 spot. Dallas, the team that went to the NBA Finals last season, was still intact, for example, along with a host of other competitors for perhaps a higher seeding.
Who the Rockets will play in the first round of the playoffs remains unknown, as a four or five way tie amongst other play off and play in teams.
Currently the Rockets are slated to play the Los Angeles Clippers, but the Clippers seem certain to win versus the Spurs tonight, bringing their win total to 47 wins against 32 losses. That is identical to the records of the Clippers, Grizzlies, Warriors and Nuggets. Los Angeles is only one win above that, and the Timberwolves are only one win below. That doesn’t even take into account what might happen with the teams that finish the season in play in range, from 7th to 10th.
So right now, it’s very difficult to predict, and we might actually see a six way tie in the Western Conference, stretching from 3rd to 8th place.
Meanwhile the Rockets are hinting at resting Alpern Sengun, Fred VanVleet and Jabari Smith, and possibly others, in Wednesday’s match up with the LA Clippers, seeing as 2nd place is secure.
It’s going to be a wild, wild, finish in the wild, wild, Western Conference. Fortunately, the Houston Rockets have blasted well above the fray.
52 wins minimum. 2nd place Western Conference. SW Division Champions. Pretty nice regular season. The NBA Playoffs await!