The Houston Rockets opened a critical six-game homestand with a blowout victory over the New Orleans Pelicans on Saturday, notching their sixth win in their last eight home games.
The Rockets are one of four teams clustered behind the Oklahoma City Thunder near the top of the Western Conference with the Denver Nuggets, Los Angeles Lakers and Memphis Grizzlies also in the chase.
Houston will host the Orlando Magic on Monday seeking to keep pace in pursuit of the second seed.
Houston continues to tinker with a two-big lineup to positive results. In their 146-117 win over the Pelicans, centers Alperen Sengun and Steven Adams combined for 26 points, 13 rebounds, eight assists, four steals and four blocks. Adams typically replaces Sengun in the lineup, but when the Rockets struggled to contain the Mavericks’ size during a road loss on Feb. 8, Houston coach Ime Udoka started playing Sengun and Adams together during key stretches.
The Rockets have leaned further into that gambit, occasionally adding 6-foot-10 forward Jabari Smith Jr. to the mix for additional rebounding and defensive heft. The Rockets remain in the early stages of examining this lineup wrinkle, but the progress they’ve made has increased the likelihood of Houston playing Sengun and Adams as a tandem.
“It’s been good,” Udoka said. “You can see that they are getting more comfortable. We like how they work together and just the size and physicality. A lot of benefits to it but the fact that it’s worked really well and out of necessity in Dallas, it gives us another luxury lineup-wise, and when you pair it with Jabari at the three it’s even bigger.
“Yeah, we like how it’s looked and it’s something we’ll do going forward.”
On Saturday, the Magic opened a five-game road trip with a 111-109 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks, snapping a five-game skid. That losing streak was part of a longer stretch of six defeats during a seven-game homestand that prevented Orlando from climbing in the East.
Despite an injury-ravaged campaign where their top four scorers — Franz Wagner, Paolo Banchero, Jalen Suggs and Moritz Wagner — have all missed at least 20 games, the Magic remain in contention for the play-in tournament. However, those injuries have practically scuttled their hopes of guaranteeing a postseason bid, with Suggs (quad) and Moritz Wagner (knee) sidelined following season-ending surgeries.
All that remains for Orlando is making the best of an unexpected situation, with roster and rotation flux wreaking havoc on what was supposed to be a season where the Magic took the proverbial next step.
With the stretch run at hand, the Magic are focused on taking advantage of any opportunity that presents itself.
“Honestly, just one game at a time,” Magic coach Jamahl Mosley said. “I think this conference is so up-and-down and the difference between the fifth and the 10th (seeds) is going to keep fluctuating.
“We all just have to keep taking it one day at a time, control what we can control and play the way which we need to play.”
–Field Level Media
