clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Houston Rockets: Picking Up Steam

New, 1 comment

With a 4-game win streak, the Rockets are back to .500 and have moved up from last place in the Western Conference to 1 game out of a playoff spot behind Dallas. That's what playing Detroit, Sacramento, and Washington will do for your record, but they also beat Portland at home who are currently a playoff team. They're a better team at home and this is the time to get healthy at the expense of bad teams.

↵

They have 7 games left this month, 6 of which are at home, and only 1 of those games is against a team with a better record. That one team with a winning record is San Antonio, who the Rockets beat 105-85 back in December. The point being, there's a good chance for the Rockets to rip off a very nice streak and possibly win out during January. If they stay healthy, they should go 5-2 at worst to put them at 5 games over .500 going into February; 5 games over .500 right now is good enough for the Utah Jazz to be in 2nd place in the Western Conference.

↵

A part of this surge, starting Chandler Parsons over Chase Budinger. If you've read my previous articles calling for Budinger's return to the bench, you know how I feel about this move. Parsons isn't an all-star and he doesn't defend all that well either, but he's earned this playing time, he's simply playing better. I give credit to McHale for making the move early on this season, hopefully he'll keep experimenting until they find a lineup that's a little more consistent.

↵

Images by eflon used in background images under a Creative Commons license. Thank you.