Rockets at Hornets
THE STORY: If the Houston Rockets have any chance to make the playoffs this season, they need to find a way to win on Wednesday when they visit the New Orleans Hornets. The Rockets have been a team on the rise for the past few months but might have dug themselves too big a hole at the beginning of the season. The Hornets have been hanging on for dear life after a strong start put them in position to contend. A win over Houston would clinch New Orleans a postseason slot in the Western Conference.
TV: 8 p.m. ET, FSH, CST
ABOUT THE HORNETS (44-33): New Orleans has not exactly been making a strong push to the finish, alternating wins and losses over the last 10 days as it attempts to find the right combinations now that David West is gone for the season. Carl Landry slotting into the starting power forward spot was simple enough, but that move left the bench thin and robbed the starting unit of some of the toughness West provided on the inside. Landry plays facing the basket more than West did. The Hornets are currently in seventh place in the West, one-half game ahead of the Memphis Grizzlies (44-34) and 3 1/2 games ahead of the Rockets in ninth. They did come together nicely on Sunday, earning a 108-96 home win over Indiana behind 14 points and 17 rebounds from Emeka Okafor. The Hornets will likely keep the tiebreaker with Houston even if the Rockets should be able to even the season-series on Monday, because New Orleans owns the stronger conference mark.
ABOUT THE ROCKETS (41-37): Houston owns the tiebreaker over the Grizzlies, making Memphis the more realistic target at this point. The Rockets missed a chance to gain ground on Tuesday, dropping a 104-101 decision to the lowly Sacramento Kings while the Grizzlies lost to the Los Angeles Clippers. The schedule is not working in Houston’s favor, as there are only four games remaining. Luis Scola collected 18 points, 10 rebounds and five assists and Kevin Martin put up 30 points against the Kings but it was not enough to cover the holes in the defense. Sniffing the playoffs is a nice accomplishment for a team that started 3-10 and was still five games below .500 as recently as the All-Star break. But if they fall short, the Rockets will look back to games like Tuesday and know exactly where they went wrong.
WHO’S HOT/WHO’S NOT: Landry is averaging 20.2 points in five starts since West’s injury. Martin is averaging 32.7 points over the last three games for Houston while Chase Budinger had a streak of five straight games in double figures come to an end on Tuesday.
KEY STATISTIC: 1 - New Orleans’ magic number to clinch a playoff spot. The Hornets need one more win or a Houston loss to clinch their spot.
SEASON SERIES: The Hornets took the first two meetings, winning both in Houston to take the edge in the tiebreaker. The Rockets got one back on Feb. 27, going into the New Orleans Arena and coming out with a 91-89 triumph as Martin went for 33 points. That snapped New Orleans’ five-game winning streak in the series.
KEY INJURIES: HOUSTON: G Terrence Williams (abdominal). NEW ORLEANS: F David West (knee).
LAST WORD: “You win one and everybody’s (happy),” New Orleans coach Monty Williams said. “You lose one and it’s like nobody can sleep. I can’t get caught up in that. … You’ve just got to win more games. I don’t know what else to say. Win more games.”