Even with 10 straight wins and an NBA-best record of 12-1 in March, the Houston Rockets (37-35) still have plenty of work to do to qualify for a potential Western Conference postseason berth (starting with the 2024 play-in tournament in mid-April).
Houston remains one back of Golden State (38-34) for the No. 10 spot in the West standings, which represents that final postseason spot, and the Warriors own the tiebreaker. One silver lining is that the Rockets do have a head-to-head matchup with Golden State still left (April 4, in Houston) to potentially make up ground quickly.
But even if the Rockets win that game, they will still need to outplay the Warriors by at least one more game over their final 10 outings of the 2023-24 season, in order to qualify for the postseason.
It’s still a small margin of error. But in the aftermath of Wednesday’s thrilling victory in Oklahoma City, rising star Jalen Green made it clear that he’s a believer that his team can defy the odds.
“We’re going to get a play-in game,” Green said with a smile during his postgame interview, as captured by Space City Home Network, the team’s TV broadcast network. “We’re going to keep winning.”
The complete interview can be viewed below. As for Green and the Rockets, they will continue their push when they resume play Friday at Utah (29-44), where tipoff is set for 8:30 p.m. Central.
#Rockets beat OKC 132-126 in OT
Jalen Green 🏀37 PTS🏀10 REB🏀7 AST🏀@HoustonRockets have won 10-straight games and are 1 game back of the play-in pic.twitter.com/QtUPIXNceg
— Space City Home Network (@SpaceCityHN) March 28, 2024
