When the Houston Rockets visit the Memphis Grizzlies on Friday, it will be difficult to know which team feels worse.
The Grizzlies (24-48) have lost 12 of their last 13 and taken lopsided losses in back-to-back games.
The Rockets (43-29) have lost four of their past six, including a heart-wrenching defeat Wednesday in Minnesota. Houston scored the first 13 points in overtime and appeared to be in command only to allow the Timberwolves to close the game on a 15-0 run for the victory.
“I’m still trying to figure out how they won that game,” Durant said of the Timberwolves’ remarkable rally.
The Rockets would have moved into fifth place in the Western Conference standings with a win, but fell 1.5 games behind Minnesota with the loss. Houston is 3.5 games ahead of the Phoenix Suns for the sixth and final guaranteed playoff spot. Teams finishing seventh through 10th will compete for the remaining two playoff spots in the play-in tournament.
Despite the recent struggles, Houston still has an opportunity to gain ground. The Rockets are only 3.5 games behind the third-place Los Angeles Lakers with 10 games left to play.
Behind Kevin Durant and Alperen Sengun, the Rockets will be positioned to make a late-regular season run. Alperen recorded his fourth triple-double of the season (33 points, 13 rebounds, 10 assists) in Monday’s loss to the Chicago Bulls and scored 30 with four blocks against Minnesota. Durant had 40 points against Chicago and 30 against Minnesota.
As for injury-plagued Memphis, the Grizzlies have endured consecutive losses by an average of 32 points. The Atlanta Hawks posted a 146-107 win on Monday and the Spurs, behind the dominating play of Victor Wembanyama, overpowered the Grizzlies, 123-98, on Wednesday.
A combination of injuries and late-season medical matters have left Memphis without star guard Ja Morant, big man Zach Edey and key reserves Scotty Pippen Jr., Santi Aldama, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Brandon Clarke for the rest of the remaining games. The Grizzlies also played without Ty Jerome (left ankle) and Jaylen Wells (right toe) against the Spurs. Both were held out with minor injuries.
Without those key pieces, the Grizzlies were no match for San Antonio. Memphis trailed by only 13 at halftime, but the Spurs outscored the Grizzlies 41-20 in the third quarter to pull away. The Grizzlies fell behind by as many as 39 in the fourth quarter despite all five Spurs starters sitting out the final 12 minutes.
Memphis coach Tuomas Iisalo watched his team get outrebounded 59-33 by the Spurs.
“A bad start to the game,” Iisalo said. “I thought our guys responded (after falling behind by 22 in the opening quarter). We made a decent run. But going against the Spurs and Wembanyama, it was a riddle we couldn’t solve, especially on the offensive end.
“We just couldn’t generate enough open looks or enough quality looks. We couldn’t get transition (baskets). We couldn’t get second-shot opportunities. It’s very difficult to win a game with the group we have (healthy) if we can’t get any transition baskets and no second-chance points.”
