The Houston Rockets’ remarkable turnaround continues. After wins last week against Washington, 137-114, Chicago, 127-117, and Utah, 147-119, Houston has now climbed all the way back up to .500 at 35-35. They have now won eight games in a row and ten in their last eleven, with the lone loss a 122-116 defeat at the hands of the Los Angeles Clippers. They’re now just 1.5 games behind the Golden State Warriors, 4-6 in their last ten games, for the tenth seed and final spot in the play-in tournament. The Rockets have inched close enough to control their own destiny the rest of the way.
The competition picks up for Houston the rest of the way. While they’ll get to face the Portland Trail Blazers (19-52) on Monday, they visit the top seeded Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday. They then go back to Utah on Friday to face the Jazz.
At the start of March, the Rockets looked dead in the water. Star center Alperen Sengun was lost for presumably the remainder of the season on March 10 in a win against the Sacramento Kings. The question at that point was whether Houston should rest veterans Fred VanVleet and Dillon Brooks with an eye towards improving their odds at a top-four pick and preserving their draft pick. The Thunder own the Rockets 2024 pick unless it lands in the top four.
The way the Rockets have executed the turnaround has been almost as remarkable as the feat itself. After losing Sengun, they inserted 6’7 rookie point guard Amen Thompson into the starting lineup, employing him as a center on offense.
From October 25 through March 10, when Sengun went down, the Rockets were seventh in defense (112.4 defensive rating), 24th in offense (112.5 offensive rating), and 14th in pace (99.58). From March 12 through March 23, without Sengun, they have been 14th in defense (112.0 defensive rating), second in offense (126.6 offensive rating), and fifth in pace (100.5). The offense has skyrocketed during this stretch following Thompson’s insertion into the lineup, opening up driving lanes for shooting guard Jalen Green. Green recently claimed Western Conference Player of the Week honors and has a good case to win the Player of the Month for March.
Right now, the task ahead for Houston is to make the play-in. But this recent stretch raises important questions. How will Udoka maximize the talents of Sengun, Thompson, and Green together, particularly when the former two are non-shooters? Houston has plenty of time to figure out. While Sengun and Green are both extension eligible this summer, Phase 2 of the rebuild is just beginning.