The Houston Rockets are doing everything possible to stay afloat in the Western Conference standings. On Monday night, they fell into the No. 5 seed following a victory by the Los Angeles Lakers in Luka Doncic's first game with his new team, but Houston is still within shouting distance of the second seed currently held by the Memphis Grizzlies.
Houston helped their cause with a win against the Toronto Raptors on Sunday afternoon, but the team is entering a difficult stretch that could see the Rockets lose ground in the standings.
Houston has a daunting stretch ahead as they face five teams in their next six games that are in the mix for the postseason.
It starts with three straight home games against the Phoenix Suns, the Golden State Warriors, and the Minnesota Timberwolves. They'll take a short trip to face the Utah Jazz before facing the Milwaukee Bucks and the San Antonio Spurs.
The remaining teams have a combined schedule of 134 wins to 128 losses, excluding the Jazz. While it may not seem like these teams have dominated in the standings, some teams, like the Suns and Warriors, have underachieved somewhat this season. Golden State made a big move to address its struggles by adding Jimmy Butler to the squad at the trade deadline. The Rockets will face a new-look Warriors team that's looking to surge into the latter part of the season.
The Warriors aren't the only team looking to go on a run in the next several weeks. The Timberwolves occupy the top play-in seed at No. 7 in a tie with the Los Angeles Clippers. The Suns are on the outside looking in, trying to break into the play-in bracket and take the tenth seed currently taken by Golden State. The Spurs are looking to gel quickly with their new dynamic duo of Victor Wembanyama and De'aron Fox, and the Milwaukee Bucks are just a few games back from getting home-court advantage in the first round.
The Rockets will play highly motivated teams over the next stretch and they'll play some on limited rest.
Three out of their next six games are in the second half of a back-to-back. Houston will play the Warriors, the Jazz, and the Spurs directly after games against the Suns, the Timberwolves and the Bucks, respectively.
The Rockets already have thin margins to secure victory while some impact players recover from injury, but their prospects are slimmer when entering on limited rest. There's a chance they could get some of the injured players back throughout this stretch, but there's also a chance they won't be available on the backend of back-to-back games.
For the Rockets to hold on to their spot in the Western Conference and potentially climb, they should take advantage of their opportunities against other teams looking to make a mark in the standings. They can't afford to drop many of these matchups as the season moves through the All-Star Break. If Houston has a losing streak, it could plummet even further in the standings.