With eight consecutive wins and a 10-1 record in March, the Houston Rockets have been the NBA’s best team this month.
That’s contributed to a rapid rise up the Western Conference standings. After Golden State’s loss at Minnesota on Sunday night, the Warriors (36-34) are just a single game ahead of the Rockets (35-35) for the No. 10 spot in the West, which represents the final berth in the play-in tournament to potentially qualify for the 2024 playoffs.
The bad news for the Rockets is that Golden State owns a potential tiebreaker, so they will need to outplay the Warriors by two games over the final 12 of the 2023-24 regular season in order to pass them. The good news is that Golden State visits Houston on April 4, which represents a direct opportunity to make up more ground.
For now, the Rockets have another opportunity to close the gap when Portland (19-52) comes to town on Monday. With a win, the Rockets would close to within a half-game in the standings, and they could tie as soon as Tuesday — when Miami (39-32) hosts the Warriors.
In contrast to the Rockets, who have won 10 of 11 games this month, the Warriors have dropped six of nine.
Houston would own a potential play-in tiebreaker against the Lakers (39-32), but Los Angeles still has three games of separation in the loss column, relative to the Rockets. Furthermore, there are no head-to-head meetings left between those teams.
Timberwolves win it! The Golden State (36-34) lead on Houston (35-35) is down to one game.
Bad news: Warriors have tiebreaker, so Rockets still need to make up 2 games over final 12
Good news: Houston has a home game left vs. GSW (April 4) to potentially help in that mission
— Ben DuBose (@BenDuBose) March 25, 2024
