In blowing out the Jazz, 143-105, on Wednesday, the Rockets earned their 50th win of the 2024-25 season and locked in a top-six playoff seed in the Western Conference.
Houston Rockets head coach Ime Udoka talks with players during the fourth quarter against the Utah Jazz. Troy Taormina-Imagn Images
Houston also secured the Southwest Division crown with the victory.
With no starter playing more than 29 minutes in a dominant win over the rebuilding Jazz, Houston was paced by shooting guard Jalen Green‘s 22 points, captured on 7-of-15 shooting.
All-Star Rockets center Alperen Sengun and reserve forward Jabari Smith Jr. each notched 15-point, 14-rebound double-doubles. Sengun was also one assist shy of a triple-double.
Houston didn’t emerge from the contest totally unscathed, however. Starting wing Dillon Brooks incurred his 16th technical foul of the season for kicking Utah guard Collin Sexton in an inconvenient place, and will net a one-game suspension unless the foul is rescinded.
In their second season under head coach Ime Udoka, the Rockets have returned to the playoffs for the first time in five years. This iteration of the club is quite different from the club’s last playoff team.
Young talents like Sengun, Green, Smith, Tari Eason and Amen Thompson will get their first postseason run, and they will be supported in that effort by playoff-seasoned pros like Brooks and Fred VanVleet.
Questions linger about whether this relatively inexperienced squad can weather battles with more veteran superstars in the West.
At present, Houston is the No. 2 seed in the West. Only six games separate the Rockets from the West’s No. 8 seed, the 43-32 Clippers. Houston is also just 2.5 games better by record than the 47-29 Nuggets, and three games better than the 45-29 Lakers.
Houston hardly has an easy road for its final six games of the 2024-25 regular season. The Rockets will face off against only postseason-bound West rivals, with two games against the Warriors, two games against the Clippers and matchups with the Lakers and the top-seeded Thunder left on the docket.
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