{"id":241513,"date":"2026-04-09T05:13:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-09T05:13:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/241513\/"},"modified":"2026-04-09T05:13:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T05:13:09","slug":"houston-rockets-clinch-top-five-seed-after-some-outside-help","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/241513\/","title":{"rendered":"Houston Rockets clinch top-five seed after some outside help"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportingnews.com\/us\/nba\/houston-rockets\/news\/houston-rockets-clinch-top-five-seed-after-outside-help\/1ba3435ff401701b91ce46e9?utm_source=yahoo&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_campaign=appeared_on\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Houston Rockets clinch top-five seed after some outside help;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;Houston Rockets clinch top-five seed after some outside help&quot;}\" class=\"link \">Houston Rockets clinch top-five seed after some outside help<\/a> originally appeared on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportingnews.com\/us?utm_source=yahoo&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_campaign=appeared_on\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:The Sporting News;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;The Sporting News&quot;}\" class=\"link \">The Sporting News<\/a>. Add The Sporting News as a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=https:\/\/www.sportingnews.com\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Preferred Source by clicking here;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;Preferred Source by clicking here&quot;}\" class=\"link \">Preferred Source by clicking here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportingnews.com\/us\/nba\/houston-rockets\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Houston Rockets;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;Houston Rockets&quot;}\" class=\"link \">Houston Rockets<\/a> had one of their most resilient wins of the season Tuesday night against the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportingnews.com\/us\/nba\/phoenix-suns\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Phoenix Suns;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;Phoenix Suns&quot;}\" class=\"link \">Phoenix Suns<\/a>. They overcame a large deficit in the first quarter and won their 50th game of the season.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>On Wednesday, their week went from good to great, as they got an assist from the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportingnews.com\/us\/nba\/orlando-magic\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Orlando Magic;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;Orlando Magic&quot;}\" class=\"link \">Orlando Magic<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Houston secured a top-five seed after the Timberwolves were beaten by the Magic<\/p>\n<p>The Minnesota Timberwolves had several of their main contributors out for their clash against the Magic, and they paid the price, losing by a score of 132-120 and gifting the Rockets a higher seed, with Minnesota now being unable to catch the Rockets in the standings.<\/p>\n<p>The likeliest scenario for Houston as of the time of writing is a date with the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportingnews.com\/us\/nba\/los-angeles-lakers\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Los Angeles Lakers;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;Los Angeles Lakers&quot;}\" class=\"link \">Los Angeles Lakers<\/a> in the first round of the playoffs, regardless of whether they finish in the 4th or 5th seed.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>The Lakers have been struck by the injury bug and will be missing <a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/nba\/story\/_\/id\/48409097\/luka-doncic-hamstring-seek-specialized-treatment-europe\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:both Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves for the rest of the regular season;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;both Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves for the rest of the regular season&quot;}\" class=\"link \">both Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves for the rest of the regular season<\/a>, and they would most likely be out for the first round of the postseason.<\/p>\n<p>The Rockets were dealt a big blow before the season even started after Fred VanVleet tore his ACL. However, they\u2019ve won seven straight games and have looked like a completely different team thanks to Reed Sheppard\u2019s recent performances, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/nba\/rockets\/onsi\/news\/time-for-the-rockets-to-fully-lean-in-on-reed-sheppard\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:especially as a starter;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;especially as a starter&quot;}\" class=\"link \">especially as a starter<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>With the two teams set on a collision course, the Rockets look like the better team on paper, and now they\u2019ll try to lock down the fourth seed and gain home-field advantage.<\/p>\n<p>More NBA news:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Houston Rockets clinch top-five seed after some outside help originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":241514,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[23006,6381,56,58,57,4854,6393,4646,6398,6394,6374,40225,61331,20772],"class_list":{"0":"post-241513","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston","8":"tag-austin-reaves","9":"tag-fred-vanvleet","10":"tag-houston","11":"tag-houston-headlines","12":"tag-houston-news","13":"tag-houston-rockets","14":"tag-los-angeles-lakers","15":"tag-luka-doncic","16":"tag-orlando-magic","17":"tag-phoenix-suns","18":"tag-reed-sheppard","19":"tag-seed","20":"tag-the-magic","21":"tag-timberwolves"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241513","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=241513"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241513\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/241514"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=241513"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=241513"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=241513"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}