Rockets Can Inch Closer to Home-Court Advantage With Win Sunday

The Houston Rockets, in a hard-fought game, defeated the Miami Heat 102-98. It was the Rockets' ninth straight win and the Rocket's first win over the Heat since 2019. Ironically enough, the Rockets lost nine consecutive games against Miami coming into Friday night's matchup.

Fred VanVleet led all scorers with 37 points, shooting 9-of-11 from 3-point range. Amen Thompson returned from his ankle injury and showed exactly why he is the Rockets' most versatile player. Thompson had 18 points, nine rebounds, and a career-high seven steals.

With the win, the Rockets are a season-high 21 games over .500 at 46-25. With the Denver Nuggets and Memphis Grizzlies' losses, the Rockets are starting to put some space between themselves and the other top-five seeds. The Rockets are now three games up in the loss column on the Grizzlies after their loss.

That makes Sunday's matchup with the Denver Nuggets even more important. The Rockets host the Nuggets Sunday at the Toyota Center as they have a chance to go up three games in the loss column and win the season series tiebreaker.

Winning the tiebreaker means that, with a win on Sunday, the Rockets would be four games up on the Nuggets, with only 10 games left in the season. In a weird scheduling quirk, the Rockets have only played the Nuggets once since 2023. That was a 128-108 victory over the Nuggets in a game in which Nikola Jokic did not play.

Speaking of Jokic, the three-time MVP has missed the last three games with an ankle injury, and as of this writing, his status is up in the air for Sunday's night game in Houston. The Nuggets have lost two in a row and are only 5-5 in their last 10 games.

Having the second seed is essential for many reasons, but the main reason would be that they would be in the opposite bracket of the No. 1 seed, the Oklahoma City Thunder. If the Rockets continue in the playoffs, they would not face the Thunder until the conference finals.

As it stands now, the Rockets would either face the LA Clippers or Minnesota Timberwolves in the first round of the playoffs. Either team would be a better matchup than playing against the Golden State Warriors, who currently sit in the sixth seed.

The Rockets look for win No. 10 in a row Sunday as they host the Denver Nuggets.

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