Ben DuBose

If not...

I think the Nuggets would pass you for a top four spot in the West and thus move you to a spot where you'd be out of home court advantage in the first round and facing either the Nuggets or the Timberwolves, which in my opinion are far more difficult opponents than the Lakers would be if you could get back

to number three so there's a lot to play for in that game on Wednesday night won't be easy on the road night two of a back-to-back and you know internally I've heard all season long that from a Rockets perspective you know the teams they sort of fear the most in the playoffs are the Thunder for the obvious reason and the Nuggets and Denver does have championship pedigree I understand that and I think there's some hesitation to buy in on the Spurs just because they're so inexperienced

But at the same time, and maybe I'm overreacting to Sunday, but just by the eye test, it feels like the Nuggets are a much friendlier matchup for the Rockets than the Spurs are.

Houston has shown an ability in those matchups against the Nuggets to get to the rim, to get kickout threes in a way that was much more difficult against the Spurs and Wembley.

If you look back to those three Rockets-Nuggets games, one in November, two in December, so the Rockets were 1-2, but all three of them were close.

One of the two losses, you pretty much have to put an asterisk on.

It was the amend Tim Hardaway Jr.

ridiculous game where there was just the awful officiating that was confirmed in the last two-minute reports the next day, late in the fourth quarter, and in overtime.

Then they came back the next game in Denver and dominated.

The game before that was the NBA Cup one in Houston that the Rockets had a bad first quarter, nearly rallied to win, but ultimately came up a little bit short.

I just think and maybe it changes with with Aaron Gordon back for the Nuggets because he hasn't played much against the Rockets this season.

But it doesn't feel like there's nearly the same athleticism gap.

You know, Denver's been a bottom 10 defense for most of this season.

And so I know Nicole Jokic is great.

So is Jamal Murray.

But I just I feel like the matchup is a little friendlier now, you know.

The Rockets aren't head and shoulders better, so they're going to have to execute the fourth quarter.

That's been an issue all year, and it was in that loss to the Warriors as well.

But I'll happily take, you know, getting back to a point where we're at least talking about, you know, what adjustments can they make to, you know, get going in the fourth quarter.