Rockets locked at No.5
The Houston Rockets are officially locked into the No. 5 seed in the West after losing to the Timberwolves, which sets them up to face either the Lakers or Nuggets in the first round. ( ). The final day of the regular season still had major seeding and clinching scenarios—11 teams had already clinched playoff spots entering Sunday—and the league saw heavy rest patterns late in the schedule, with 168 players sitting out on the penultimate night. ( ).
Houston is headed into the National Basketball Association playoffs as the Western Conference’s No. 5 seed after Friday’s 136-132 loss to Minnesota closed off every path to fourth. (cbssports.com) The Rockets fell to 51-30, while the Los Angeles Lakers clinched a top-four spot Friday and entered Sunday at 52-29. Denver opened the final day at 53-28, leaving Houston locked behind both teams in the standings. (cbssports.com, nba.com) That means Houston’s first-round opponent depends on the last day of the regular season: if Denver stays No. 3, the Rockets get the Nuggets; if the Lakers move to No. 3, Houston gets Los Angeles. The National Basketball Association’s play-in tournament starts April 14, and the playoffs open April 18. (cbssports.com, nba.com) Friday’s loss came in a game Houston still had reason to chase. The Rockets had won eight straight before Minnesota snapped that streak, 136-132, behind 22 points from Anthony Edwards and 23 off the bench from Terrence Shannon Jr. (apnews.com) The late-season standings fight sat inside a schedule that had already started to warp around playoff preparation. Entering Sunday, 11 of the 12 automatic playoff spots were already clinched, but 10 postseason seeds were still unsettled. (cbssports.com) Teams around the league were also managing minutes hard in Game 81. The Chicago Tribune reported that 168 players were listed out on Friday night, when all 30 teams played and several clubs had little left to gain in the standings. (chicagotribune.com) Houston had spent the week balancing that same tension between health and seeding. Before the Timberwolves game, the Rockets were still mathematically alive for No. 3, but National Basketball Association coverage described their more immediate race as the battle for home court with the Lakers. (nba.com) Coach Ime Udoka said before Friday’s game that he did not “put a ton of stock” in home court and expected first-round series in that part of the bracket to come down to “who’s playing well and health.” By the end of the night, Houston no longer had the home-court question to solve. (nba.com) Now the Rockets’ regular season ends with the seed settled and the matchup still moving. By Sunday night, Houston will know whether the road to Round 1 starts in Denver or Los Angeles. (cbssports.com, nba.com)
