On April 8, Beijing time, the NBA regular season continued, and the Rockets challenged the Mavericks away. In this game, the Rockets came up with momentum and completely occupied the initiative on the court, once taking a 22-point lead, but then the Mavericks launched a counterattack, and the score difference continued to be closer. In the second half, the two teams fell into a tug-of-war, and the Rockets were still able to take the initiative, but at the critical moment, Smith Jr. missed two free throws, Exum hit a tie three-pointer, and the Rockets completely collapsed in overtime. In the end, the Rockets were defeated by the Mavericks 136-147 and suffered a five-game losing streak.
The Rockets played very well in the first quarter of this game, but unfortunately they couldn't withstand it after that, and they were chased by the opponent for consecutive points, and they couldn't limit Doncic and Irving's offense at all, and they could only watch the point difference continue to be chased closer. Fortunately, in the second half, the Rockets were also able to respond and avoid being overtaken to open up the difference, but unfortunately they failed to withstand at the critical moment, Irving scored consecutive points in the final quarter to catch up with the score, Smith Jr. missed two free throws, and Exum hit a three-point whistle. In overtime, the Rockets were completely unable to limit the opponent's offense, and the point difference was directly widened, and the Rockets finally lost to the Mavericks 136-147.
From 11 consecutive wins to now 5 consecutive defeats, the Rockets collapsed directly and missed the play-offs in advance. Their performance in this game has been very good, the team has a whopping 7 players scoring double-doubles, three scoring 20+, including Dillon 29 points, VanVleet 24 points and 12 assists, Green 21 points and 8 assists. Every player tried their best, but they couldn't change the result, and in the end they lost the game and missed the play-offs at all.
With the loss of the Rockets, the Warriors locked up the play-in qualification in advance, and their chances were also very good. During this time, the Warriors' performance was very strong, and when the Rockets once shrunk to half a win, they withstood the opponent's chase, and even defeated the opponent in direct conversation, completely crushing the Rockets. However, it is also difficult for the Warriors to further improve their rankings, and they are still two wins behind the ninth-place Kings, and it is still very difficult to catch up, and they may have to accept the disadvantage of playing the play-offs from the tenth place.
In addition, the last suspense of the top 10 in the East and West also ended, with the top 10 in the West coming out early, and the Spurs, Trail Blazers, Grizzlies, Jazz and Rockets out early. However, among the top 10 teams in the West, no team has determined the final standings, the difference is very small, and each position may change, and it may be necessary to wait until the final game is played to determine the final matchup.