Houston Rockets vs. Denver Nuggets game preview

The Rockets play a Western Conference team desperate for a win for the fifth straight game

Game 82 has not mattered to the Houston Rockets in a long time.

Last season, Game 82 mattered to Houston as they attempted and succeeded to get to .500 for the season. Their opponent, the Los Angeles Clippers, sat all their starters because the game meant nothing to them.

In the Stephen Silas years, Game 82 never meant anything other than a couple of times where Houston needed to lose to stay as the worst record in the league.

In the Bubble, Game 72 was the final game of the year, and it meant nothing because the Utah Jazz had lost earlier in the day to give Houston the 4 seed.

You have to go back to 2019, when the Rockets lost on a late Paul George 3-pointer in Oklahoma City. That game happened on the second-to-last day of the season, so the Rockets then had to watch helplessly as every other result went against them and dropped them from the 2 seed to the 4 seed. That forced an earlier matchup with the Kevin Durant Era Warriors and thus an earlier exit.

Game 82 will mean nothing once again for Houston, and they’ll be able to scoreboard watch. Their opponent in the first round could be any of Denver, Minnesota, LA Clippers, Golden State, or Memphis. We won’t even know after today who they will be playing, as we have to wait for the first play-in game to determine Houston’s first round opponent.

As for tonight, Ime Udoka made it seem like he’ll play his rotation guys today. He may treat it like a preseason game or he might just give them a quarter. Who knows?

Also, I never did a “Who is going to win the Lottery if it’s rigged” preview this year, so here goes: Congratulations to the San Antonio Spurs, who will be pairing Victor Wembanyama with Cooper Flagg. Remember, every time we seemingly get a guaranteed superstar in the Draft with not as much great talent behind them, the Spurs win the Lottery. Who went #2 overall the year Tim Duncan was drafted? You don’t remember. No one does.

We’ll be in the Playback room tonight, so you should come join to watch the Rockets and talk about the game. Remember, we get a handful of VIP passes that we give out to anyone who wants to watch the game. No League Pass necessary!

Tip-off

2:30pm CT

How To Watch

Space City Home Network and Playback

Injury Report

Rockets

Jae’Sean Tate: OUT

Nuggets

Jamal Murray: GTD (yeah, right)

The Line (as of this post)

Den -7.5

Check here for updates

Looking ahead because we can

The playoffs! Schedule will release later today.