The Rockets will put you in hell

Good morning. The Houston Rockets, already sitting at 52 wins with three games left, just had one of the more incredible weekends of the season, locking up Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Stephen Curry in succession. Is Amen Thompson the best perimeter defender in the NBA? Are the Rockets ready ready for it all? Let's basketball.

Scores

Friday

Jazz 112, Pacers 140 | Box Score

Kings 125, Hornets 102 | Box Score

Pistons 117, Raptors 105 | Box Score

Suns 103, Celtics 123 | Box Score | Bradley Beal: 0/7 from the floor in 30 minutes, -23. So yes, the Suns played the Celtics even in the 18 minutes Beal was on the bench. Yikes.

Cavaliers 114, Spurs 113 | Box Score | Uh, the Cavs led by 13 with three minutes to go and the Spurs had a chance to win it on the final possession. What a disaster that would have been.

Thunder 111, Rockets 125 | Box Score | This might have been the most consequential regular season in April in some time, even though OKC is certainly the No. 1 seed and Houston will likely finish No. 2. Ime Udoka started Alperen Sengun and Steven Adams together, leaning into what has been a limited-minutes revelation against a team unlocking new heights with their Isaiah Hartenstein-Chet Holmgren pairing. Sengun and Adams were +5 in 16 minutes together. Hartenstein and Holmgren were +0 in 16 minutes together. HMM.

Meanwhile, Amen Thompson put Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in (relative) hell. SGA had 22 points on 10/22 shooting. It was the scoring champ's lowest point total since December 28.

Incredible performance by the Rockets. Please let this be a rivalry.

Blazers 113, Bulls 118 | Box Score

Nuggets 104, Warriors 118 | Box Score | Denver had everyone but Jamal Murray this time. Didn't matter. Brandin Podziemski is on a weeks-long heater. Steph Curry is on a decades-long heater. Golden State's defense is phenomenal right now. The offense is enough, especially against dodgy defenses like that of the Nuggets.

Mavericks 91, Clippers 114 | Box Score

Pelicans 108, Lakers 124 | Box Score

Saturday

Knicks 121, Hawks 105 | Box Score | This wasn't nearly as close as the final score indicates.

Timberwolves 114, Sixers 109 | Box Score | I'm not sure exactly why the Timberwolves needed some late-game Anthony Edwards heroics against the flatlining Sixers, but they got them nonetheless.

Helluva game overall for Ant. The team's been a bit uneven, especially in the first half of the season. But the predicted rise following last year's run and the Olympics has really come to fruition.

Grizzlies 109, Pistons 103 | Box Score | Gritty win for Memphis without Ja Morant to keep pace in the West.

Bucks 121, Heat 115 | Box Score | 36-15-10 for Giannis. Hell must be playing defense against him.

Mavericks 104, Clippers 135 | Box Score | Dallas started Anthony Davis and Dereck Lively II and Ivica Zubac still went 11/11 from the floor. Legend.

This Clippers team is right there with 2015 and 2021 in terms of championship equity. Around this time of the season, I thought both of those teams could make the Finals. I'm starting to believe it here, too, with no disrespect intended to any other West teams. This roster is pretty freaking good when healthy, and they look healthy.

Sunday

Bulls 131, Hornets 117 | Box Score

Lakers 126, Thunder 99 | Box Score | Well if anyone needed a reminder of why the vaunted Thunder didn't make Western Conference Finals as a No. 1 seed last year, Luka Doncic provided that on Sunday. He absolutely dominated OKC, putting Cason Wallace under pressure all night and pulling Isaiah Hartenstein and Chet Holmgren into his torture chamber. The Thunder just couldn't do anything with him.

Low free throw game overall, which is nice to see even if it will have some folks screaming. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander: zero free throw attempts in 30 minutes. LeBron, Luka and Austin Reaves combined for just six FTAs.

Raptors 120, Nets 109 | Box Score

Spurs 109, Blazers 120 | Box Score

Kings 120, Cavaliers 113 | Box Score | Sacramento sweeps the Cavaliers. Incredible. Cleveland doesn't want to see the Kings in the NBA Finals!

Wizards 90, Celtics 124 | Box Score | Boston is still alive for the No. 1 seed. It's very, very unlikely. Winning this many games by this many points while resting two starters a night is wild.

Jazz 134, Hawks 147 | Box Score |

Suns 98, Knicks 112 | Box Score | Jalen Brunson returns and plays 35 minutes, getting to the line a bunch. Mikal Bridges and O.G. Anunoby remained aggressive on offense. Good signs.

Phoenix has lost six straight. The Suns are going to miss the play-in. Just incredible.

Pacers 125, Nuggets 120 | Box Score | Welp, Michael Malone says he hopes Jamal Murray will be back before the playoffs. At this rate, Malone's going to need Murray back before the play-in. This is Denver's fourth straight loss, despite a 41-15-13 game from Nikola Jokic. The Nuggets' defense is not good and the supplemental scoring without Murray is just too inconsistent. This team doesn't look anything close to dangerous right now ... despite Jokic having one of the most potent runs of his career.

Indiana's a different story. The Pacers look serious. No Pascal Siakam, limited scoring from Tyrese Haliburton, on the road. Victory.

Rockets 106, Warriors 96 | Box Score | SPICY game and a second straight huge statement by the Houston Rockets. Stephen Curry hit one shot all night.

Amen Thompson had him in hell. So did the constant help. Houston is physical and is betting on the refs not calling everything. They won that bet on Sunday. The Warriors' real failure – because their defense stepped up too, even with Draymond Green hobbled by somewhat unfair foul trouble – was that Jimmy Butler didn't get anything going on offense with Steph on the floor drawing attention. The Rockets gave Butler hell when Curry rested; Jimmy only took seven shots. Houston totally shut off their water, and the Warriors offense just wasn't ready to deal with it.

The Rockets were getting close to falling into Green's spice trap, with Alperen Sengun losing his cool a bit in the second quarter, but halftime came at the right moment. Dillon Brooks stayed out of it entirely!

Hard to remember a more impressive weekend this season for a (mostly) young team than what Houston just did. One win from clinching the No. 2 seed.

Bucks 111, Pelicans 107 | Box Score | Milwaukee wins a Giannis Antetokounmpo rest night.

Playoff Race Update

The Rockets have officially graduated out of the morass in the West. Here's the rest of the table.

Two wins in their final four games will allow the Lakers to claim the No. 3 seed. One more win will guarantee a top-6 spot. The other five teams all have 32 losses! Denver has banked a win but is the coldest team in the mix. Since the Thunder, Rockets and Lakers will likely all be division champs, if more than two teams end up tied at the end of the season, their collective records against each other will break the ties. That's generally best for the Clipper and Wolves. What a race!

In the other West race, the Suns are two losses from elimination.

In the East 4-5-6, the Pacers are actually still narrowly alive for No. 3 and control their own destiny for No. 4. Milwaukee and Detroit play Friday and Sunday, so that race won't be settled until later this week.

In the East play-in, almost every combination is possible except Miami will not be the No. 7 seed. The most likely scenario is Magic vs. Hawks to face the Celtics, and the loser there vs. the winner of Bulls-Heat (again!) to face the Cavaliers.

Schedule

Very light Monday as the men's NCAA Tournament wraps up.

Kings at Pistons, 7 ET, NBA TV
Sixers at Heat, 7:30 ET

Be excellent to each other.