Rockets Officially Clinch NBA Playoff Berth For Second Straight Season

After the Rockets made the Western Conference semifinals in the 2020 bubble season with James Harden and Russell Westbrook, the team went through a complete change and made it to the other side in 2024-25. The Rockets were 52-30 last season and ended up second in the Western Conference standings behind the eventual NBA Champions Oklahoma City Thunder.

That was the first 50-win season since 2018-19 with Harden and Chris Paul. The Rockets featured their young core in Jalen Green, Amen Thompson and Alperen Sengun besides veteran point guard Fred VanVleet and forward Dillon Brooks. Houston lost in the first round of the NBA Playoffs in seven games to a familiar opponent in the Golden State Warriors.

The Rockets were ready to make that transition into a true contender this offseason and were a key part of the largest trade in NBA history that brought one of the greatest scorers of all-time in Kevin Durant to Houston as well as center Clint Capela. The Rockets gave up Jalen Green, Dillon Brooks, a first-round and two second-round picks to the Suns.

Houston was looking to add a consistent and clutch scorer to the team and Durant has proved exactly that over the course of the year. He got his 16th All-Star honor as a Rocket this season. it was expected the Rockets would be in the playoff hunt, and secured their spot with just over a week to go in the regular season.

What Lies Ahead For the Rockets

The Rockets have won four games in a row and are going for their fifth against the Utah Jazz on Friday night at home. Houston is in a tight race in the heart of the West, currently just one game ahead of the Minnesota Timberwolves for fifth.

The Nuggets are 1.5 games ahead for fourth. The Rockets are three games behind the Los Angeles Lakers and already lost the tie-breaker, so there's not much chance of catching up to them given LA's schedule. Houston is likely to be between the 4-6 seed in the West. The Rockets would ideally like to be fourth to keep home-court advantage for the first round.

Houston is currently 27-10 at home compared to 20-19 on the road. The opponent is likely to be the Nuggets as the four or five seed, or the Lakers as a six seed. The NBA Playoffs will begin on April 18/19 in the first round for the Rockets.

They'll look for their first playoff series win since 2020 with the new core of players led by Durant, Alperen Sengun, Amen Thompson, Reed Sheppard and Jabari Smith Jr. VanVleet has been out for the year due to a torn ACL.