The Rockets look to start the “second half” of the season with a rare road win
The All-Star break is over, and the Houston Rockets return to action tonight against the New Orleans Pelicans. The Rockets are up 2-1 in the season series, and have one of their only five road wins in The Big Easy.
The Pelicans currently sit at the head of the table (shoutout to Roman Reigns) in the Southwest Division, one game ahead of the Dallas Mavericks. They’re tightly packed with a few other teams in the standings, so their situation is volatile. They will need every win going forward that they can get.
That goes double for the Rockets, who are probably no longer clinging to hopes for a play-in berth. After spending most of the first half of the season ahead of the Los Angeles Lakers and Golden State Warriors, those squads have found a bit of mojo and seem entrenched in the playoff picture. For Houston (or Utah, I guess) to have a shot, they would probably need to get hot, stay healthy, and see one of the teams above them do the opposite.
Speaking of health, Lachard has a great update on the state of the Rockets that he dropped yesterday. The Tari Eason injury has definitely been worrisome for a while, and hopefully we’ll get some concrete information on that soon. With the season mostly lost now, the Rockets should have no qualms in shutting Eason down for the remaining 28 games. It’s not about this season anymore. It’s about next season. And the one after that.
Tip-off
7pm CT
How to Watch
Space City Home Network
Injury Report
Rockets
Tari Eason-OUT (leg)
Pelicans
None
The Line (as of this post)
Looking ahead because we can
Friday night at home against the Suns