Have the Houston Rockets turned the corner after adding Reed Sheppard to the starting lineup?

Well, it bears mentioning that it took a great bounce to beat the Miami Heat on Saturday night. It also bears mentioning that Houston was only down in that situation because the player that Sheppard replaced in the starting lineup, Tari Eason, made a boneheaded play late. And it’s not his first time.

Advertisement

Anyway, Houston now heads on the road for their second-to-last road trip of the season. Houston will play four straight on the road, followed by two more back at Toyota Center. Then it’s two more on the road (including Kevin Durant’s only trips to Golden State and Phoenix) and three at home to wrap up the season. There are only two more back-to-backs, and both take place entirely at home. We’re in the home stretch now folks!

In terms of importance, all the games are important now. If Houston wants to finish with a top 4 seed, they basically need to win all the games they are supposed to win. And on paper, they’ll probably be favored in at least ten of their final 12 games. Catching the Lakers seems impossible without the tiebreak (and LA has stopped losing altogether). Denver also holds the tiebreak over Houston, but they still have games against OKC and San Antonio.

Tip-off

7pm CT

Advertisement

How To Watch

Space City Home Network

Injury ReportRockets

Steven Adams: OUT

Fred VanVleet: OUT

Bulls

Zach Collins: OUT

Noa Essengue: OUT

Jalen Smith: GTD

Jaden Ivey: GTD

Isaac Okoro: GTD

Guerschon Yabusele: GTD

Anfernee Simons: GTD

The Line (as of this post)

N/A

Check here for updates

Looking ahead because we can

Wednesday night on the road against the Minnesota Timberwolves