With only four games left to play in the 2019-20 regular season, the Houston Rockets (43-25) now have a lead of 3.5 games on the Dallas Mavericks (41-30) in the NBA’s Southwest Division (standings).
That gives Houston a “magic number” of one, meaning that any Rockets win or Mavs loss over the combined eight games left to be played would mathematically clinch the division title for the Rockets.
It will be the eighth division title in franchise history, and the fourth since 2015. Previous Southwest winners in the James Harden era came in the 2014-15, 2016-17, 2017-18, and 2018-19 seasons.
Beyond adding a line to the banner at Toyota Center, the more practical benefit is that finishing ahead of the Mavs ensures that the Rockets cannot finish below the No. 6 spot in the very close race for Western Conference playoff seeding. There’s a clear incentive to avoid the No. 7 seed, since the West’s No. 2 (the first-round opponent) is likely to be reigning NBA Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard and the Los Angeles Clippers.
The division title is also very helpful in some tiebreaker scenarios.
By finishing somewhere between No. 3 and No. 6, Houston is likely to play either Oklahoma City, Utah, or Denver in the first round. Even the No. 6 seed appears to be becoming somewhat unlikely, since the Jazz (42-25) are resting four starters in Friday’s game versus San Antonio.
When the Mavs led the Rockets by seven points in the final minute last Friday, Dallas was only 45 seconds away from trimming Houston’s division lead to a half-game and putting the No. 7 seed squarely in play. But the historic comeback by Harden and the Rockets quashed that notion, and now they’re on the verge of another division crown.
The earliest the Rockets could clinch the Southwest is Saturday, when the Mavs face the Milwaukee Bucks (55-14) at the NBA “bubble” in Florida. If the division isn’t clinched then, the Rockets can do it themselves on Sunday, when they return to action against Sacramento (29-39).
Tip-off between the Rockets and Kings is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. Central on Sunday, with the game televised on AT&T SportsNet Southwest.
