A look at the upcoming tough stretch for the Rockets

The Rockets will have it pretty tough after returning from the long All-Star break on Friday.

Your Houston Rockets are currently the first-seed in the Western Conference through 57 games. They also are on a 10-game winning streak and have not lost in the month of February.

Unfortunately for Houston, the schedule gets quite a bit tougher at the end of February and in the month of March. While the Rockets certainly have the talent and team to win most of these games, their success may not be the same as most of February.

The rest of the month

To end February, the Rockets will play 4 teams that are in the playoff hunt. Minnesota, who the Rockets handled fairly easily last time out, is first on Friday night. The Rockets then play a brutal back-to-back away games at Denver and Utah. Finally, they close out the month against the Clippers, who have actually beaten the Rockets twice this year.

The Rockets would really prove how dominant they are if they continue their winning streak and finish the month perfect. Realistically, though, you could see the team drop one or two of these last four.

March

The month of March gets even better. Here’s the schedule:

3rd: BOS

6th: @OKC

7th: @MIL

9th: @TOR

11th: @DAL

12th: SAS

15th: LAC

17th: @NOP

18th: @MIN

20th: @POR

22th: DET

24th: NOP

25th: ATL

27th: CHI

30th: PHO

As you can see, most of the month is quite difficult for Houston. They play the top-2 teams in the East during the first four games and nine of the first ten against teams above .500.

The schedule lightens a bit near the end, with four of the last five games being played against teams with a sub .500 winning percentage currently. The game against Blake Griffin and the Pistons, though, should be quite interesting.

The Warriors

The Warriors, on the other hand, have one of the easiest schedules remaining. They will play the Hawks and the Kings twice as well as the Suns three times. Wonderful.

Here’s a tweet from Brian Witt of Warriors.com showing the ease of schedule:

With All-Star Weekend now in the rearview mirror, the Warriors have the easiest remaining schedule of any team in the West in terms of cumulative opponent winning percentage (.463)

— Brian Witt (@Wittnessed) February 20, 2018

The Rockets will have to survive and win some tough games if they want that No. 1 seed. With the Warriors just a half-game behind them, it’ll be an interesting finish to the year.

Next: Charles Barkley says the Rockets have the deepest team