With the NBA's 2024-25 regular season complete after Sunday's finales for all 30 teams, the Houston Rockets have much more clarity on their playoff opponent.
Houston (52-30), which secured the No. 2 spot in the Western Conference standings last week, will face the West's No. 7 seed in a best-of-seven, first-round series starting next Saturday or Sunday. Under the NBA's 2-2-1-1-1 format, Game 1 and Game 2 will be played inside Houston's Toyota Center before the series shifts to the home of the lower seed for the next two.
The No. 7 seed will be either Golden State (48-34) or Memphis (48-34), depending on the result of Tuesday's play-in tournament game from San Francisco. The Warriors and Grizzlies are both led by star guards in Steph Curry and Ja Morant, which could make perimeter defense from the likes of Houston's Amen Thompson all the more important. The Rockets finished the season with a top-five-rated defense.
“If we play our game, we can beat anybody,” Thompson said Sunday when asked if Houston had a preference on who to play. “I’m just (focused) on us. You can’t run from anybody, it’s the playoffs.“
Houston went 2-3 against Golden State in the 2024-25 season, though the Rockets won two of the final three meetings. The Rockets were 3-1 versus Memphis.
THE BRACKET IS SET 🍿 pic.twitter.com/xZBRkF7LT7
— NBA (@NBA) April 13, 2025
Prior to Sunday's results, the Denver Nuggets, Los Angeles Clippers, and Minnesota Timberwolves were also potential options for the Rockets. But with each of those teams winning their final game of the regular season and finishing with 49 or more wins, they will now be slotted from No. 4 through No. 6, respectively.
Should the Rockets advance beyond their series with the eventual No. 7 seed, they would face the winner of the first-round series between the No. 3 Los Angeles Lakers and No. 6 Minnesota. As the second seed, Houston would be in line to hold home-court advantage in the second round, as well.
The upcoming 2025 postseason will be Houston's first appearance in the NBA playoffs since the 2019-20 season.
