NBA Playoffs 2017: Who will the Houston Rockets play in the Conference Semifinals?
By Luke Norris
Now that the third-seeded Houston Rockets have advanced to the second round of the 2017 NBA Playoffs, who will they play in the Western Conference Semifinals?
By way of beating the Oklahoma City Thunder on Tuesday night in Game 5 of their best-of-seven series, the Houston Rockets won the series, 4-1, and are now headed to the Western Conference Semifinals. So who awaits them in the second round? Well, we’re still waiting on that answer.
The Rockets, who were 55-27 during the regular season, came into these 2017 NBA Playoffs as the third seed in the Western Conference, meaning they will play the winner of the series between the second-seeded San Antonio Spurs and the seventh-seeded Memphis Grizzlies, who also played Game 5 of their series on Tuesday night in San Antonio. The Spurs came out on top, 116-103 to take a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven series. The Spurs have a chance to close out the series on Thursday night at the FedEx Forum in Memphis.
The Rockets were 1-3 against the Spurs during the regular season but three of those games occurred during the first month of the season. Houston’s lone win came in their first matchup of the season, a 101-99 win in San Antonio on Nov. 9. Just three days later, they returned home but the Spurs walked away with a 106-100 win. The two teams met again on Dec. 20 with the Spurs emerging victorious, 102-100, and San Antonio won the final matchup of the season on Mar. 6 with a 112-110 win at home. That’s four games decided by a total of 12 points. I’m quite confident that the majority of NBA fans would be okay with watching a series like that.
As for Houston’s season series with the Memphis, they went 2-2 against the Grizzlies this past season, starting with a 115-109 loss in Memphis on Dec. 23. They lost again just a few weeks later at home, 110-105, on Jan. 13 but won the final two matchups of the year, winning at the FedEx Forum on January 21, 119-95, and again on Mar. 4 at the Toyota Center, 123-108. Each team won on the other’s home court, which always makes for some fun playoff basketball, doesn’t it?
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Who would you like to see the Houston Rockets play in the second round? Be sure to check back in with FanSided each and every day for continuing coverage of the 2017 NBA Playoffs.