Best-Case Scenario
The best-case scenario for a team that is the league’s biggest wild card this postseason is to win an NBA championship. If the Houston Rockets continue to play on both ends like they have been this whole season (2nd ORTG – 17 DRTG), that is a formula for meeting up with the Golden State Warriors in the Western Conference Finals to seek their revenge from 2015.
If we’re being honest with each other, I like how Houston matches up against the Warriors. They have the potential to out score them any night, which maybe one other team in the league can say. You’re fighting fire with fire. In their four games against Golden State this season, they averaged 113 points per game. The Warriors are 2nd in the league in defensive rating and only allow 104 ppg. Only 16 times out of 82 did the Warriors allow an opponent to score more than 113 points on them, while the Rockets averaged that every time they played each other.
If the Houston Rockets get into a groove late in the playoffs, they could enter the WCF playing solid defense on the perimeter while continuing to rip nets from behind the arc. Best case scenario, they could very well trump their biggest test of the season in seven games, and head to the NBA finals to play a weaker matchup.