Rockets Have Right Mindset Heading into Final Stretch of Season

The Houston Rockets' 119-109 victory Memphis Grizzlies on Friday night provided reason for optimism, as the Rockets put an end to a concerning trend, as it pertains to the Rockets' poor outside shooting. Houston made 36.4 percent of their triples, going 12-of-33 from three.

They were even better if you toss out Tari Eason and Jabari Smith Jr.'s outside shooting splits, as Eason and Smith went a combined 3-of-16 from deep. The devil is always in the details.

Houston made just 31 percent of their outside attempts in the previous loss against the Minnesota Timberwolves and fared 26.8 percent from deep in the preceding loss to the Chicago Bulls. Both games were close losses, unsurprisingly.

Houston will have to get more consistent at long-range shooting in order to have any shot at making a deep postseason run. They've even been struggling to make open outside shots, which shouldn't necessarily be a surprise, when noting the Rockets' roster construction.

Houston has nine games remaining in the regular season, so there's not a great deal of time to sharpen up. And the roster is set.

It's not like Houston will be adding any new players into the fold. Nor will they be getting any players back from major injury.

Fred VanVleet and Steven Adams have been major losses for the Rockets all season, and that will continue. But the Rockets' mindset through the remainder of the season, heading into the postseason is simple, as Kevin Durant explained.

"Just next play mentality. Continue to build habits. Regardless of what may have happened in the past, just continue to keep grinding and see what happens at the end of the year. We can't hang our hats, we can't cry over spilled milk. We just gotta go out there and hoop."

This is certainly the right mindset to have. The Rockets can make things much easier for themselves if they'd just cut the turnovers down.

For example, Houston had 20 turnovers in Wednesday's overtime loss to the Wolves, as they were just careless with the ball time and time again. Even on easy fastbreak scoring opportunities.

But the reality is that every team has warts. No team is flawless. The magnitude is different team by team, but no team has looked unbeatable this season.

The Rockets would certainly benefit from maximizing their roster and getting production out of their bench, which goes back to Ime Udoka’s rotations and/or lineups.

The Rockets are currently sixth in the Western Conference standings and are likely to finish there, although it is possible for them to climb to fifth.