For the first time since the 2011-12 NBA season, the Rockets will not qualify for the playoffs. Houston’s fate for the 2020-21 campaign, which was inevitable for some time, became mathematically official on Thursday night with a victory by San Antonio (29-29), which currently owns the final spot of the Western Conference play-in tournament.
When the Spurs were eliminated from contention for the 2019-20 playoffs last August, the Rockets took over the league’s longest active streak with eight consecutive postseason berths. However, Houston’s spot in the pole position proved to be short-lived.
From Houston’s perspective, the eight-year streak lined up perfectly with the arrival and departure of superstar guard James Harden. The Rockets missed the playoffs in all three years before trading for “The Beard” in October 2012, and they have now missed the playoffs in the first season after Harden’s forced departure (to Brooklyn) in January 2021.
With the 2020-21 Rockets (15-44) out of the playoff picture, the league’s longest current streak of consecutive appearances belongs to Portland and Toronto. Both teams have qualified seven straight years.
While neither the Trail Blazers (32-26) nor Raptors (25-34) have clinched a berth in the 2021 playoffs yet, both remain mathematically alive. Thus, for now, they hold the distinction of the NBA’s longest streak.
