Fatigue Could be Factoring into the Rockets' Recent Losses

The Houston Rockets sit in fourth place in the Western Conference standings with 15 games remaining before the 2026 postseason kicks off. The Rockets could easily drop to sixth place, as the Denver Nuggets and Minnesota Timberwolves are in a crazed push to the finish line.

There will certainly be some moving and shaking down the stretch, much like last season, which worked in Houston's favor, as they catapulted to second-best in the Western Conference standings. Although they drew a tough matchup in the opening round of the postseason against the Golden State Warriors, who held the seven seed and were certainly unafraid of the Rockets, having seen them four times in the postseason throughout the previous decade.

This year's Rockets find themselves in a nearly identical place at the same point of the season as last year. Houston is 41-26, through 67 games.

Last year, the Rockets were 42-25 through 67 games. This year's team has battled injuries to an extensive degree, having had glass-eating big man Steven Adams for just 32 games.

Fred VanVleet has been out for the entirety of the season. Dorian Finney-Smith didn't suit up until Christmas.

Tari Eason certainly seems to be playing injured and has missed significant time. All-Star center Alperen Sengun has also missed time. In fact, he's out injured at the moment, as of this writing.

Yet and still, the Rockets have lost games that they should've won. They've certainly lost winnable games.

We've seen them blow double digit leads seemingly on a nightly basis. Well, not literally, but you get the point.

And recently, they got boat-raced by the San Antonio Spurs and Denver Nuggets. In front of a national audience, even. Could there be a greater reason behind that?

Fatigue Cited as Key Factor in Rockets' Recent Blowout Losses

Law Murray of The Athletic suggests Houston may have simply been exhausted, due to the schedule.

"The Rockets were demolished to end a stretch of five games in seven nights."

However, Murray states that Houston is still in a good place at this point in the season and has faith and optimism in the group still.

"They did what they’ve been doing all season in terms of limiting losing streaks and winning games in blowout fashion. The win over the Pelicans was the first time the Rockets won a one-score game in more than two months."

Murray is likely right. It's surely a factor.

It's a long season. And we're at the end. Or nearing the end.

With that being said, everyone is tired. Not just the Rockets.

That's not quite a good explanation for what we've seen of late. And it doesn't quite bode well for Houston in the postseason, as there's not much time for rest before the postseason starts.

We'll see if they can get it together.