Two Things to Watch as the Houston Rockets Rematch the New York Knicks

The Houston Rockets are out for revenge tonight against the New York Knicks, who last beat them 108-106 at Madison Square Garden on Feb. 21. After going up as many as 18 points, the Rockets completely collapsed in the fourth quarter to suffer one of their most devastating losses of the season.

The Rockets are riding a two-game winning streak, and while those victories came against some of the NBA's bottom feeders, they needed those to regain some confidence. Meanwhile, the Knicks have been in the opposite scenario, having lost two straight but to the Oklahoma City Thunder and red-hot Charlotte Hornets.

While Houston is looking to move up in the playoff picture as the sixth seed in the Western Conference, New York is fighting for a shot at the No. 2 seed with seven games left in its regular season. Here are two things to watch in tonight's rematch:

Fourth-Quarter Offense

It's hard not to pay attention to how the final quarter of this game plays out, no matter the score. The Knicks rallied back down 18 points with just under 11 minutes to go in that Feb. 21 game to win it. Houston scored just seven points in the final five minutes and 15 points in the entire quarter. New York dropped 33.

While the Knicks rank eighth in fourth-quarter points per game this season, they've dropped from 28.4 to 25.7 over their last three games. The Rockets, on the other hand, have upped their points per fourth quarter from 27.3 to 30.7 over their last three matchups.

Since that game, Houston has made a few changes to its rotation. Tari Eason was sent to come off the bench for Reed Sheppard, while Dorian Finney-Smith's minutes have practically disintegrated. How will this affect its game plan tonight, especially in clutch time?

Supplementary Scoring

Kevin Durant's talents have lifted the Rockets' offense, even though the overall product has been disappointing as of late. But over the last two games, Houston's supplementary players have stepped up in a major way.

In the Rockets' 119-109 win over the Memphis Grizzlies on Friday, the other four starters combined for 68 points, while Eason poured in 16 off the bench. In Sunday's 134-102 blowout victory over the New Orleans Pelicans, Durant notched just 20 points, but Alperen Şengün's 36 points, 13 rebounds, seven assists, three steals and three blocks were the driving force of the offense.

Tonight, Houston will need more of that against a much better team. Şengün, Amen Thompson and/or Jabari Smith Jr. have to be a second star to Durant to take down the Knicks. On the other side, New York will also hope to get more from supplementary players alongside Jalen Brunson.