Several marquee matchups have been revealed for the Rockets

The Rockets have had some big games announced for the upcoming season, such as Christmas Day and Opening Night.

The Houston Rockets are inching ever closer to the upcoming season. They are a little less than two months away from the start of the preseason!

Today, the NBA announced several big games for the season being played on holidays and other times. The Rockets definitely have their share of the national spotlight after coming one win away from taking down the Warriors.

Let’s look at the games that we know are happening before the full schedule released later in the month, shall we?

Opening Night/Week

The Houston Rockets will begin their season at home for the first time since 2015. They will be playing the New Orleans Pelicans at 7 p.m. CT on October 17 on ESPN, the same day they began last year. Thankfully, this opener is a bit easier than last season’s against the Warriors. Still, you can’t underestimate the Pellies!

The Rockets also will have two more National TV games in the Opening Week. They will go against LeBron James in his first game at home in Los Angeles on October 20 at 9:30 CT, also on ESPN. Finally, they’ll stay in LA for one more game against the Clippers on NBA TV at 8:00 CT on October 21. That’s a no-fun back-to-back right there.

Christmas Day

The Rockets, as expected, will be getting a Christmas Day game as well. They will have a rematch of last year as they face the Oklahoma City Thunder once again. This time, though, the Rockets will have Carmelo Anthony on their side and the game will be in Houston.

The Rockets will also have their first daytime Christmas game of this century. The last time they played in the afternoon on Christmas was in 1997 against the Jazz. The two rivals play at 2:00 CT on ABC, so be sure to tune in after lunch!

MLK Day

The Rockets will also have a fun matchup on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. They will face off against the young and talented Philadelphia 76ers in some interleague play. It’ll be interesting to watch as the teams will be in the thick of the season at that point. Will the Rockets be in the No. 1 spot as they so desperately desire?

They will play on January 21 at 7:00 p.m. CT on TNT!

The rest of the schedule

As I said earlier, the rest of the schedule will be released later in the month. Houston will likely have many National TV games this year after their success last season and the exciting duo of Chris Paul and James Harden. We’ll discuss more of that later!

What matchup are you most excited to watch that we know about so far? Let’s hope the Rockets can get off on the right foot by beating the Pelicans and two LA teams!