We were all ready for the Rockets to raise some sort of NBA championship trophy this week.
We were ready for that parade through downtown. Admit it.
The way the up-start Rockets have handled this early season and their run in the NBA Cup, had us believing that their coronation as a legit playoff team would come with them holding up the tournament trophy on Tuesday night in Las Vegas.
It didn’t happen. Over the weekend, the Rockets fell short against Oklahoma City in the NBA Cup semifinals.
That didn’t work out, but what did happen is this Rockets franchise that hadn’t sniffed the NBA Playoffs since 2019-2020 got a chance to feel what it’s like to be in a playoff environment. Yeah, this young core of players which includes Jalen Green, Jabari Smith Jr., Alperen Sengun and Amen Thompson, made the end of last season interesting with a push for the postseason. But this was different.
The NBA Cup gave the Rockets experience playing tangible meaningful, games that will help them get to where they want to be this season – the playoffs.
“It gives you the determination to kind of strive for more,” Rockets coach Ime Udoka said. “We want to achieve our goals that we fell short of last year.”
The Rockets are well on their way to making that happen. For much of this early season, they have been the second-best team in the West behind OKC. They are sitting third in the West now with an 18-9 record ahead of Thursday night’s home game against New Orleans.
Winning the West Group A bracket in the Cup, which included a thrilling 91-90 win over nemesis Golden State will prove beneficial. The win over the Warriors, a team the Rockets hadn’t defeated in 15 straight games, will really help.
“We showed that we can compete against anybody,” Thompson said. “We ended like a five-year drought against that team (Warriors). It’s showing that the culture has changed around here.”
