The Rockets Can't Concede The Rest Of This Season

The Houston Rockets have managed to maintain a position in the top four seeds despite the several injuries the team has had to navigate. Fred VanVleet's injury before the season started changed the trajectory of the team's direction and their formula for success. Later injuries to players like Dorian Finney-Smith, Tari Eason, and Steven Adams have forced the Rockets to play with thinner lineups and no chance to bolster the roster through trades.

Despite the difficulties, the Rockets would be making a mistake to punt the season away or claim that a deep postseason run can't happen this season.

While there are some matchups that would be difficult for the Rockets in the playoffs, they would still have a chance against most other teams in the Western Conference.

The San Antonio Spurs and the Oklahoma City Thunder seem to be the least ideal matchups for the Rockets, as each of those teams have the athletic defenders and All-NBA talent that can overpower teams like the Rockets that survive nearly solely on effort.

Depending on the draw in the playoffs, the Rockets could gain some favorable matchups in the first round to give themselves a chance to earn a Western Conference Finals appearance in the second round.

In the Western Conference, there are no easy matchups, but Houston has competed well against most of the West's top teams throughout the season. While they've dropped some of those games in the clutch against those teams, they've also either held big leads or even clutch leads against those teams before quality late-game performance by their opponents.

If close losses against the league's best teams means a team has no chance to win against them in a series, then Houston should punt the season away and lock in on a return from their full cast next season.

The losses mean more than competing at a high level against the best competition, then it's true the Rockets have no chance at a deep playoff run. However, the Rockets have the rest of the season to prepare for their weaknesses that have recently been exposed against other top teams. Each team in the West will be doing the same as there are major weaknesses with most of the other teams in the West.

The Rockets haven't always performed to the standard they should have, but wasting an All-Star season from Kevin Durant and Alperen Sengun and claim there's no chance for the team to win would be a disservice by the front office and malpractice by the coaching staff.

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• Rockets' Inactivity at Trade Deadline Could Set Stage for Busy Offseason
• Rockets Alperen Sengun Misses Yahoo Sports All-NBA Cut