Including Sunday night, the Houston Rockets have only nine games to play in the regular season. According to Tankathon, the Rockets have the eighth-easiest remaining strength of schedule in the NBA. Amid underwhelming play and a coaching disconnect, the Rockets have slid all the way down to sixth in the Western Conference standings. The Rockets will need all the easy games they can get. Nonetheless, fans eager to gauge their team’s readiness for the playoffs should look out for the more challenging encounters. There are two in particular that stand out from the rest.

The Games To Watch In the Houston Rockets’ Final Stretch

In terms of individual opponents, it’s a mixed bag. The Rockets will face tanking teams like the Utah Jazz and Memphis Grizzlies. Despite Giannis Antetokounmpo’s alleged protests, the Milwaukee Bucks should be taking the same approach.

Other teams may still be competing for playoff seeding. The New York Knicks are only a game and a half behind the Boston Celtics for the East’s second seed. The Philadelphia 76ers are only half a game behind the Atlanta Hawks for the sixth and final guaranteed playoff spot in the East. The Rockets will play the Knicks on Tuesday, March 31st, and the Sixers on April 9th. Both of those games should be heartfelt battles.

That’s because the Rockets have their own reasons to compete—even at this stage of the season. The Rockets’ position in the Western Conference standings is far from secure. They are the sixth seed, teetering on the edge of the play-in tournament. They still have games to play against the team directly above them and the one directly below. It’s these final Western Conference games that will hold particular significance to Rockets fans.

The Rockets’ Last Chance to Rise in the Standings

The team just above the Rockets in the standings is the Minnesota Timberwolves. The Rockets will play them at home in their second-to-last game of the season on April 10th. As of March 29th, there is only half a game between them. Since they split the season series up to this point, the remaining clash will be the tie-breaker in the event of equal records.

The Timberwolves are currently without star guard Anthony Edwards. The hope is that the charismatic scorer will return from his knee injury in the next few games, but the Wolves will undoubtedly favor a cautious approach. It’s also worth noting the Timberwolves beat the Rockets without Edwards last week, winning an overtime brawl on March 25th, 110-108. The Rockets got a strong 30-point performance from overburdened All-Star Alperen Sengun. Even so, ugly turnovers wound up costing them an overtime lead. The Rockets should lock in for a potential do-over in their second-to-last game of the season. Whether they do or not might say a lot about the fight they’ll put up in the playoffs.

The Threat From Below

The team directly below the Rockets in the Western Conference standings is the Phoenix Suns. The Rockets will play them in Phoenix on April 7th. At three and a half games behind, the likelihood of Phoenix catching Houston is low. Neither team has been on much of a hot streak lately, either. The Rockets are 5-5 in their last ten, while the Suns are 4-6. Tankathon also considers Phoenix to have the more challenging remaining schedule. By the time the two teams play, it’s likely their standings battle will be resolved. Even so, considering the offseason trade between the two teams, Rockets fans will have a special interest in the matchup.

The Kevin Durant experience has been anything but smooth for the Rockets. The main issue was the roster construction that failed to account for the loss of starting point guard Fred VanVleet. Even so, internecine Twitter-fiascos and sulking benches have been a staple of Durant’s career, and those predictably followed him to Houston as well. Durant’s counterparts in the trade, Jalen Green and Dillon Brooks, have been largely well-received in Phoenix. Expectations are lower for Green, who is coming off a hamstring injury and playing second (or third or fourth) fiddle to Devin Booker. Brooks has quickly become a fan-favorite for his three-and-D versatility and culture-setting ferocity.

Even so, the Rockets have won all three previous encounters this season. Fans would love to make it a clean sweep. The final game may also be the first in which Green will actually suit up for his new squad, as he was inactive for the previous three. If that happens, and the Dunkstronaut takes flight in the Toyota Center once more—seeding implications be damned—it will definitely be a spectacle to behold.

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