The Houston Rockets are enjoying a phenomenal, much better-than-expected season competing for a top-four playoff seed. They’re doing so right off the back of a phenomenal, much better-than-expected season going .500. But in back-to-back seasons, the better-than-expected Rockets have suffered from a major tweak in the spine. The Rockets struggle mightily with back-to-backs.
The Curious Case of the Rockets in Back-To-Back Games
The Houston Rockets aren’t good in back-to-backs. Of course, nobody is expected to play their best in back-to-backs. At 5-8 on the second night of back-to-backs so far, the Rockets are pretty middle of the pack. But in other ways, the Rockets have ways moved on from being a middle-of-the-pack team this season. The Rockets’ immediate Western conference competitors, the Denver Nuggets, Los Angeles Lakers, Los Angeles Clippers, and Memphis Grizzlies all have better records (the Nuggets are somehow 10-1).
The First Game Counts For Something Too
The Rockets have four remaining sets of back-to-backs this season. That includes one beginning Tuesday night against the Milwaukee Bucks. One thing the Rockets have improved on significantly this season compared with last is how they’ve performed in the opening nights of back-to-backs. Last season, the Rockets were 4-10 in the second night of back-to-backs, but also only 5-9 in the first night.
Through the first 13 back-to-backs of 2024-25, the Rockets have been 11-2 in the opening encounter. Giving them a 16-10 overall record in back-to-back games this season. One of those two losses incidentally came against the one good half of basketball that Anthony Davis has played for the Dallas Mavericks. The other was part of a New York road trip, which might not be a coincidence either.
It seems like the Rockets have made a commitment to going all in on the first game of back-to-backs this season. The idea of saving something for the next night is possibly what landed them with such a poor record across both games last season. Going 11-2 instead of 5-9 would seem to vindicate their decision.
Of course, with four such games still remaining, there’s still time for the Rockets to wind up with something closer to their overall season winning percentage. That’s a winning percentage that is improved across the board compared with last season. It’s fair to suggest then that their improved good fortune in the opening games of back-to-backs could be down to mere coincidence.
The Second Night of Rockets Back-To-Backs
One problem for Houston in back-to-backs this season, at least recently, has been that they’ve had 50% less Tari Eason. Since returning from injury, the rabble-rouser, and spot-starter, has been systematically withheld from the back end of back-to-backs. He is a game-changer for Houston when he’s out there, so it only follows that the game would change for the worse when he isn’t. In fact, running on empty from playing the night before is exactly when the team needs Eason’s energy the most.
There’s also the availability of the big Kiwi, Steven Adams, to consider. He has been in and out of the lineup in back-to-backs but he has most of them. Despite missing 2023-24 with injury, he’s provided solid backup minutes to Rockets star Alperen Sengun this season.
The team definitely misses his size and rebounding when he’s not around. Again, when the rest of the team is too tired to scrap it out in small-ball lineups might be when Adams would be even more missed. That may even have been the team’s logic early in the season as well. At first, he was more commonly held out of the first game instead. Still, it’s a young team, what do they need to get tired for?
The Last Word
The Rockets’ schedule to close the season is still favorable. Even so, the team will need every edge to keep pace near the top of the Western Conference. Their winning ways in the opening nights of back-to-backs will certainly be tested against the Bucks and then the Oklahoma City Thunder. If the Rockets can improve their record on the second night, though, that would be a fine consolation prize. Back-to-backs may be giving them trouble, but the only thing Rockets fans care about this season is getting back in the playoffs.
Photo credit: © Troy Taormina-Imagn Images
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