Rockets release four-game preseason schedule with two home dates

The Dec. 15 and Dec. 17 matchups versus San Antonio will represent the first NBA games at Houston’s Toyota Center since early March.

The NBA released its preseason schedule on Friday for the 2020-21 season, with four games on the December docket for the Houston Rockets. All four exhibitions will tip off at 7:00 p.m. Central, though television and radio broadcast information has yet to be disclosed.

The Rockets will play at Chicago on Friday, Dec. 11 and Sunday, Dec. 13, while San Antonio will visit Houston on Tuesday, Dec. 15 and Friday, Dec. 17. Due to the hazards of extensive travel amid the COVID-19 pandemic, NBA teams are expected to occasionally play consecutive games in one location during the upcoming season — which is why the league is getting teams accustomed to that change during the preseason.

Those Rockets-Spurs contests will represent the first NBA games at Toyota Center since March 10 — a day before the 2019-20 season was halted for months due to COVID-19. The season finally resumed in late July, but at the NBA’s neutral “bubble” complex in Central Florida.

The Rockets have yet to announce whether they will have fans at Toyota Center to begin the upcoming season — and if so, at what percentage of usual capacity (18,023).

For comparison, the NFL’s Houston Texans — who play at NRG Stadium — have had fans at 20% of usual capacity for most of this season. Should a similar rate of “social distancing” be in place for Toyota Center, that would make for a crowd of less than 4,000 fans per game. It’s possible, of course, that capacity limits could increase as the season moves along, given the potential availability of COVID-19 vaccines or treatments.

The “first half” of the regular-season schedule is expected to be released next week, around the same time as Dec. 1 opening of training camps.

[lawrence-related id=40492,40630]