Houston Rockets vs. Oklahoma City Thunder game preview

The Rockets try to take down the best team in ball

The Oklahoma City Thunder might win 70 games.

Their remaining schedule sets up fairly nicely, with three games against teams below .500 (Phoenix, New Orleans, and Utah) and two of their three “tough” games coming at home. Those two home games are both against the Los Angeles Lakers, which means that Houston Rockets fans will undoubtedly be pulling incredibly hard for the Thunder to sweep both games. In Houston’s favor is that the Thunder have not clinched the number one overall seed in the NBA. Their magic number for that is currently 68 wins, which means they will need to play hard for a little while longer. The Thunder may want to go for 70, or they could decide that the most important thing is winning a title.

That brings us to tonight’s matchup. The Rockets became the second team to clinch a playoff spot in the West and are now hoping to wrap up the 2 seed. Houston is almost guaranteed to have home court advantage in the first round, but the Rockets can now get greedy.

Unfortunately, Houston closes with the most difficult schedule in the NBA. Every team they are playing is playing for something, and they’ll face off against the current 1, 3, 4, 5, and 7 seeds in the West. Three of those games are on the road, and the two home games come against the 1 and the 4. So it’s entirely possible that we could be talking about how the Rockets entered the playoffs on a 5-game losing streak.

Last time these teams met, Ime Udoka conceded the game and played the Rio Grande Valley Vipers out onto the court. The Vipers, led by Cam Whitmore and Reed Sheppard, kept the game close and respectful throughout. In the end, the Thunder had too much talent and pulled away for the win. Still, it was nice to see good play from guys who hadn’t played much before that night (or in N’Faly Dante’s case, zero NBA basketball at all).

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

7pm CT

How To Watch

Space City Home Network and Playback

Injury Report

Rockets

Dillon Brooks: OUT (Suspension)

Fred VanVleet: GTD

Thunder

Jaylin Williams: GTD

Alex Caruso: GTD

Aaron Wiggins: GTD

Ousmane Dieng: GTD

The Line (as of this post)

N/A

Check here for updates

Looking ahead because we can

Sunday in San Francisco against the Golden State Warriors