Before we start, I want to thank everyone who has even read one of these this season. They’ve always been a fun way to talk about basketball and the Houston Rockets specifically. A huge round of appreciation for Xiane and Holly, who each grabbed a couple of previews back in January while I was abroad for my brother’s wedding.
As for tonight’s game, the Houston Rockets are resting everyone since they are locked into the fifth seed in the Western Conference. Their opponent will almost assuredly be the Denver Nuggets, who are resting everyone but Nikola Jokic against San Antonio. Jokic needs 20 minutes to reach his 65 games mark. Meanwhile, the Spurs have every incentive to win that game because it pushed Denver to OKC’s side of the bracket, meaning San Antonio might get a pathway of Phoenix and Minnesota on their way to the Western Conference Finals. Again, the Spurs are my pick to win it all this season. And next season. And the season after that one.
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The Memphis Grizzlies would very much like to lose this game. As things stand, they are tied with the Dallas Mavericks for the sixth-best odds in the lottery. A win could move them into a tie for seventh, where they could lose the tiebreaker with Atlanta on a coin flip. So winning tonight could be the difference in several ping pong balls and their floor dropping from 10 to 12. They would be stupid to try to win.
Tonight is probably a Reed Sheppard night. It’s also a great chance for J.D. Davison and Isaiah Crawford to get some run.
A win tonight matches Houston’s record from last year, when they were the 2 seed. It also bears mentioning that Houston went 41-41 two seasons ago and were five games out of the play-in. That same record would put them in a fight for the 8 seed this season.
Of course, I’ll be back for the playoff game previews. That schedule hasn’t been released yet and won’t until sometimes this week. Houston will play on Saturday or Sunday, and more than likely every game will be the late game.
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Tip-off
7:30pm CT
How To Watch
Space City Home Network
Injury Report
Rockets
Steven Adams: OUT
Fred VanVleet: OUT
Kevin Durant, Alperen Sengun, Amen Thompson, Jabari Smith Jr.: OUT
Grizzlies
Everyone you’ve heard of: OUT
The Line (as of this post)
HOU -13.5
Check here for updates
Looking ahead because we can
Game 1 on the road against either the Denver Nuggets or Los Angeles Lakers