The Rockets try to force a Game 7
The young Houston Rockets have surprised us all this season.
They won their group in the NBA Cup, taking down both of the favorites in the Minnesota Timberwolves and Los Angeles Clippers. They then broke a long losing streak against the Golden State Warriors in the quarterfinals and advanced to Las Vegas.
They went on a stretch in January where over a period of three games, they beat the Cavs twice and the Celtics in Boston. It was the first time where I (and many other Rockets fans) thought, “Oh this team might actually be really good.”
Finally, with the 2 seed on the line and a lot of hand-wringing thanks to a murderer’s row of playoff teams to end the season (OKC, @GS, @LAC, @LAL, DEN), Houston won the first two games and made the whole thing moot.
Winning tonight would probably be the biggest surprise of them all.
No one expects the underdog Rockets (+5.5 at the time of writing) to step into the Chase Center and do anything other than roll over for the Warriors. The narrative is set: Houston gave the Warriors a fight but experience triumphed. Now the Rockets can go into the offseason with their heads held high while the Warriors and Wolves play in another series pitting one of the faces of the NBA in Steph Curry against the future in Anthony Edwards. It’s what everyone wants to see, right?
Usually in these situations, the Warriors come out smoking hot and blow the roof off. We’ve seen time and time again that Houston doesn’t have the firepower to hang in a high-scoring game, especially when they start from behind. The Warriors won’t start as cold as they did in Game 5 and the Rockets won’t start as hot, either.
But maybe Houston has one last surprise in store for us.
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
8pm CT
How To Watch
ESPN, Space City Home Network, and Playback
Injury Report
Rockets
Jae’Sean Tate: OUT
Warriors
Jonathan Kuminga: GTD
The Line (as of this post)
GS -5.5
Check here for updates
Looking ahead because we can
Game 7 in Houston on Sunday if necessary
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