Less than two weeks ago, the young and rebuilding Houston Rockets owned a 13-game losing streak, which remains the worst by any NBA team during the 2022-23 regular season to date.
Today, those same Rockets are somehow on a two-game winning streak and could stand a reasonable chance of making it three consecutive wins and four out of their last six, overall, when they host the struggling Toronto Raptors at Toyota Center on Friday night.
One complicating factor for the Rockets is availability. The usual starting backcourt of Kevin Porter Jr. and Jalen Green remains out. With another game on Saturday in Oklahoma City, key veterans will each miss half the back-to-back for maintenance purposes.
On Friday, Jae’Sean Tate is out, which means Eric Gordon will rest versus the Thunder a night later. Gordon will be available versus the Raptors, and he’s been a difference maker of late.
Jalen Green probably won’t play Friday, Rockets coach Stephen Silas said. Jabari Smith Jr. hopefully will. Both guys practiced today, but the team didn’t do much so tough to use their participation as a barometer.
— Danielle Lerner (@danielle_lerner) February 2, 2023
Other than OG Anunoby, the Raptors are mostly healthy among key players, and they should have ample incentive to win. After all, they’re only 1.5 games behind Indiana for the final spot of the Eastern Conference’s play-in tournament to qualify for the 2023 playoffs.
On the other hand, with a loss to a team like Houston, perhaps Toronto could be incentivized to further consider major transactions by next Thursday’s in-season trade deadline (Feb. 9).