Who do the Rockets wants to see in the first round?
With the NBA regular season winding down, it is time to take a look at potential playoff matchups for the Houston Rockets. Today we will be analyzing the best first-round matchup for the Rockets
Ideal Matchup – Memphis Grizzlies
In 2024–25, the Rockets appear to have their number. In their four games this season, they have won three of them.
It’s true that regular season records don’t necessarily predict post-season outcomes. The post-season is a special time of year. We need basketball justifications for why the Rockets could defeat the Grizzlies before we can make any judgments about this game. However Houston beats the Grizzlies in the possession game.
The Rockets are determined to prevail in the struggle for possession. They are designed to outplay opponents in possession of the ball. By aggressively grabbing rebounds, playing defense, and minimizing their turnovers, they achieve this objective. The NBA’s top two rebounding teams are these two. One of the few teams the Rockets don’t have a significant rebounding advantage over is the Grizzlies. Houston is first in the league (48.4) and the Grizzlies are a close second (47.7). So, that’s now how the Rockets have been beating Memphis.
Additionally, Houston often wins the turnover battle. The Rockets are 15th in the NBA in turnovers per game (14.1), but that’s a bit misleading. Houston had been turning the ball over more without Fred VanVleet Perhaps his most distinctive skill is his assist-to-turnover ratio (5-to-1 this season). Houston had the 11th-highest number of turnovers (13.8 per game) in the NBA before the All-Star break. The ball is not as important to the Grizzlies. They rank 29th in the NBA with 16.3 turnovers per game. Only the woeful Jazz cede possession more often. A low turnover rate can be indicative of an offense that lacks dynamism. That’s true to an extent for the Rockets. Still, in the case of Memphis, the benefit of holding onto the ball outweighs the drawback of taking minimal risks. When one team can’t keep the ball, and the other doesn’t like to give it up, the latter team has a great chance of winning.
We’ll be back with the other half of this one: who the Rockets don’t want to see.