Houston Rockets: 3 takeaways from March

1. The west will come down to the Rockets and the Warriors again

Last month proved what we knew all along since Houston started winning again: The Western Conference is still a two team race.

The Oklahoma City Thunder emerged as a third team that had a legitimate chance to go to the Finals, but they fell apart in March, losing 10 of their 16 games. OKC has lost their last two games and they have slid from the third seed to the eighth seed in just a month. The Thunder are in the worst possible position heading into the postseason, as they’re trending downwards. If they meet up with the Warriors in the first round, it will likely be another quick exit in the first round for OKC.

The Blazers have played great basketball this season, but a season ending injury to Jusuf Nurkic practically erased any chance they had at competing against one of the elite teams in the conference.

The Nuggets have occupied either the first or second seed for most of the year. However, most of Denver’s players have very limited playoff experience and they don’t have a top 5 player on their team, which makes it hard to beat the other elite teams in the league that have at least one mega star.

If Houston holds on to the third seed, we will likely see the Rockets and Warriors in the Western Conference Finals for a second consecutive year. Barring any drastic changes, the Rockets will have their opportunity to run it back in May.