Entering this week, the Houston Rockets were 12-2 at home this season. That brought understandable optimism ahead of the season-high seven-game homestand at Toyota Center.
But Houston hasn’t had the same good fortune this week. It lost the first two games of the homestand to Indiana and Phoenix while also losing both forward starters to injuries. Dillon Brooks is sidelined by a right oblique strain, and Jabari Smith Jr. is out with a sprained left ankle.
The Rockets (15-14) would love to stop the bleeding Friday as the homestand continues, but the task isn’t much easier with the Philadelphia 76ers (21-9) coming to town. Though reigning NBA MVP Joel Embiid (right ankle sprain) is unavailable, rising star Tyrese Maxey led the short-handed Sixers to an impressive 20-point victory in Orlando on Wednesday, even with Embiid sidelined.
For the Rockets, Jae’Sean Tate, Tari Eason and Cam Whitmore are among the forward or wing options that could receive additional playing time in the wake of losing Brooks and Smith to injury.