Hanging on to their playoff spot by a thread, the Houston Rockets lead the Denver Nuggets 51-44 at halftime in Houston.
Entering Monday, the Rockets were the No. 8 seed in the Western Conference — one game behind the Nuggets following Houston's loss in Denver on Sunday. The Rockets also are one game ahead of the Phoenix Suns for the final playoff spot, so Monday's game is extremely important for both teams. The Rockets led Sunday's game in Denver at halftime, but the Nuggets outscored Houston 37-19 in the third quarter and cruised to a win.
The Rockets led by 11 multiple times in Monday's first half, but Aaron Afflalo's 17 points helped lead the Nuggets back into the game. Courtney Lee leads Houston with 12 points on 5-for-9 shooting. Chandler Parsons has 11 points and Luis Scola has eight points. The Rockets shot 4-for-14 from three-point range, but held Denver to 35.6 shooting (16-for-45) from the floor.
Read more about the Rockets at The Dream Shake blog.