The Houston Rockets are entering a stretch of games where they really should go undefeated. Houston started a six-game home stand on Saturday, beating the New Orleans Pelicans 146-117. They’ll play the next five games at home against Orlando, Phoenix, Dallas, Chicago and Philadelphia. Then the Rockets go on the road for two games against Orlando again then Miami.
That’s seven games coming up in which the Rockets can potentially create space between themselves and the sixth-place Golden State Warriors in the Western Conference and also gain ground on Memphis, Denver and the Los Angeles Lakers. However, there are some things Houston will need to do (or fix) so they can take full advantage of this cupcake schedule.
Stay healthy
This one is easier said than done, especially with the string of injuries we’ve seen the Rockets deal with over the past couple of months. Last week against the Oklahoma City Thunder, Jalen Green was the only regular starter in the lineup. It was a valiant effort, but Houston lost that game to OKC, 137-128.
Alperen Şengün, Dillon Brooks and Amen Thompson missed that game not to mention Fred VanVleet as well who’d already been sidelined for a couple of weeks. Now is the time to start getting healthy for the Rockets. Taking advantage of this stretch against teams they should beat every night could provide a boost Houston needs.
They’re off to a good start on this soft stretch, already having beaten the New Orleans Pelicans in a back-to-back home and away series over the past few days. The goal is to get that winning streak up to three on Monday night against Orlando Magic in H-Town. The Rockets have not been able to string together more than two consecutive wins since the end of January. They can’t have a setback against Orlando, with Golden State breathing down its neck just three games back in the West.
Cut down on mistakes
Mistakes come in many forms. For this Rockets team, it’s been turnovers recently, especially during Fred VanVleet’s extended absence from the lineup. Houston averages about 13.2 turnovers per game on the season. Lately, they’ve gone over that mark frequently in wins and losses. In last week’s loss to the Thunder, the Rockets committed 16 turnovers. In Thursday’s win over the Pelicans that total went up to 19.
Missing VanVleet is a primary reason for all the mistakes. Not only is it his natural point guard presence, but also his experience and ability to settle the troops and keep them on track in times of adversity. That adversity has continued to hit these Rockets over the head with VanVleet on the sideline and they’ve been slow to respond.
Another area Houston needs to clean up is free-throw shooting. As a team, they rank last in the NBA from the charity stripe at 74.2 percent. Shooting more free throws might help the Rockets in this department. They need to get to the line and get more reps. Only Alperen Şengün is attempting more than four free throws (5.6) per game this season. Leading scorer Jalen Green is getting up 3.9 free throws per game. His scoring average would shoot up if Green could get to the line a few more times.
Just win baby!
Yes, that’s the legendary owner of the Oakland/LA/Las Vegas Raiders, Al Davis’ old motto. Just win baby. That result hasn’t been as easy to come by over the last five weeks. Houston is 7-11 since Jan 30. Throughout the first half of the season, the Rockets spent most of that time occupying second place in the Western Conference. Over the past month-plus, they’ve fallen to fifth with a hot Warriors squad chasing.
Getting healthy should help, especially with this stretch of games over the next week and a half. We’re about to hit the home stretch of the regular season, and that’s the time when teams want to be playing their best basketball of the year. Adversity befalls every team, but when it’s a team with so many young players contributing heavily, that adversity can sometimes be the recipe that derails the season. Houston has a chance to turn this around, but it has to start over this next week by winning these games against the teams they should be better than.