The Houston Rockets don’t play again until next Wednesday in Atlanta, but they certainly had some good fortune elsewhere on the first day of their rare four-day off stretch.
With Friday’s home win over Philadelphia, the Rockets improved to 24-11 — which, at the time, put them a half-game back of the Denver Nuggets and Los Angeles Clippers for the No. 2 spot in the Western Conference.
That prior status as the No. 4 seed changed with two upsets Saturday.
The Nuggets dropped to an identical 24-11 mark with an unlikely 128-114 loss in Washington, all against a Wizards squad missing All-Star guard Bradley Beal. The Wizards (11-24) were led by a season-high 32 points and eight assists off the bench by former Rockets point guard Ish Smith.
Meanwhile, the Clippers fell to 25-12 — percentage points behind the Rockets — courtesy of a stunning blowout loss at home, 140-114, to the Memphis Grizzlies (14-22).
The combination of those two losses moved the Rockets into a tie with the Nuggets for the current No. 2 spot in the West standings.
The Rockets hold the tiebreaker against the Clippers at the moment, having won two of the three head-to-head meetings so far this season. The Rockets and Nuggets, meanwhile, have split their two games.
Both Houston and Denver remain four games behind the Los Angeles Lakers, who currently have the West’s No. 1 seed at 28-7. The Rockets and Lakers have yet to play any of their three scheduled meetings this season, with the first slated for Saturday, Jan. 18 in Houston.
Those head-to-head games against the Lakers would be the best opportunity for the Rockets to quickly make up ground.
Between the upsets by the Nuggets and Clippers and an improbable come-from-behind victory in the NFL playoffs by the Houston Texans over the Buffalo Bills, it was a very productive Saturday for fans of the city — even with the Rockets not playing at all.
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