By JD

The Rockets are currently sitting pretty as the 7 seed in the Western conference, and are hoping this tough stretch coming up doesn’t knock them out.  The Rockets currently hold a 2 ½ game lead over the Lakers for the 7 seed, and a 3 ½ game lead over Utah for a playoff spot.  As long as the Rockets can get through their current rough stretch pulling out another game or 2, the Rockets should be able to stage off any late surges and keep the 7 seed. 

The Rockets are in a middle of a tough 4 game stretch, but started it off by beating I10 rival and #1 seed San Antonio Spurs on Sunday.  They followed that with a loss to the Pacers, but can end the weekend as success if they can split their weekend games.  Friday the Rockets travel to Memphis, then Saturday come home to take on the Clippers.  If the Rockets can squeeze a win out of this weekend, they’ll be in decent shape.  The schedule gets a lot easier the rest of the way, with only 1 tough game at Denver, and another showdown with Memphis, this time in Houston. 

With the Lakers right behind the Rockets, the last game of the season might end up being a special, important game.  The Rockets end the season at the Staples center, in a prime time ESPN game against the Lakers.  If the Rockets take care of the winnable games, they could have a chance to not only secure a playoff spot, but actually knock the Lakers out in the process.

By JD

The NBA season is finally upon us, and for the 1^st time since Yao there is a real buzz for basketball in Houston Texas.  That’s because the Rockets made some moves this offseason, hoping to get back to contending in the Western Conference.  The 1^st splash this offseason was bringing LINsanity to Houston.  Jeremy Lin is now a Rocket, and hopefully for Rocket fans he plays as well as he did during the height of LINsanity.   Although Lin got most of the Rocket headlines this offseason, just last week they made another splash when they traded for Thunder guard James Harden.  Harden was the NBA 6^th man of the year, and was a huge part of the Thunder’s run to the Western Conference title.  IF these two big moves will work is now the question, as the Rockets division and state is still stacked with the Spurs and Mavs.  The Rockets hope these two moves are just the start, a start to get back to winning NBA titles and beating their Lone Star Rivals regularly.

The very popular Knicks point guard Jeremy Lin is now a Houston Rocket.  Lin was a restricted free agent, and the Knicks have decided not to match the Rockets 3 year, $25 million dollar offer for Lin.  Lin is expected to bring a huge asian fan base to Houston, who capitalized on this fanbase for several years with Yao Ming.