On the morning of January 17, Beijing time, the Rockets performed well in the second away game against the Kings, and with the collective performance of players such as Wood, Green and Gordon, the Rockets defeated their opponents on the road and won a valuable victory. The problem is that after this game, the Rockets' record has reached 13 wins and 32 losses, and the Portland Trail Blazers, which currently have playoff playoff qualification, are not doing well, and the gap between the Rockets and them is only 5.5 wins.
Considering that the Rockets have played 45 regular season games and have 37 games to play in the future, if the Rockets want to chase points, there may be a glimmer of hope for a desperate win, after all, the Blazers are not in good shape, and the core guard of this team, Damian Lillard, may be absent for a long time due to surgery, so if the Rockets really want to rush, there is still a play.
Looking at the Rockets' schedule, because the Rockets' schedule after the start is too difficult, so in the remaining 30 or so games, the Rockets' opponents are not particularly strong, and there is no phenomenon of "strong teams getting together". If the Rockets can play team basketball like today against the Kings, and then play high-quality defense, the 5.5-game gap is not indelible in 37 games.
Of course, the Rockets have two choices, first, the Rockets are fully prepared, do not miss any chance to win, and Gordon, Wood, Nuwaba, Theis and other players who can be traded, the Rockets can not let them go, and even may introduce some strong reinforcements for the playoffs, which is the Rockets' "playoff plan". Another option is that the Rockets continue to play this way, losing more than 37 games and winning less, and keeping the ranking in the bottom 3 of the league, so that the Rockets have the highest probability of winning the draft this summer.
The Rockets have struggled for the pick this season, and in some win-lose games, the Rockets' choice is mostly the latter. That is to say, the Rockets know that even if they enter the playoffs, it is useless, and if they are lucky enough to enter the playoffs, the current strength of the Rockets is just a "round trip". Instead of being out of the round, it is better to have the time and energy to swing the high-level signing.
Moreover, the Rockets have played more than 40 games, and the current record of the league's penultimate third is "hard-won." Now that the Rockets have been laid out to this point, what need to compete for tickets to the playoff qualifiers? So in future games, the Rockets have a high probability of continuing to swing until the end of this season's regular season.