The NBA on Wednesday released its schedule for the second half of the 2020-21 regular season, including postponements from the first half that need to be made up in order for each team to reach the desired total of 72 games. Second-half games will run from March 10 until May 16.
For the Houston Rockets, there were three postponements — all at home — that need to be made up, giving them a total of 39 games in the season’s second half. One of the postponements was on Dec. 23 versus Oklahoma City due to COVID-19 issues, while the other two (Indiana, Dallas) occurred last weekend due to the recent winter storm in Texas.
Unlike most seasons, in which the full schedule is released at once, the NBA split this year’s announcement — since it anticipated having to slide in “makeup games” later in the year due to pandemic postponements.
The good news for the Rockets (11-18), who entered Wednesday with eight straight losses, is that they should have star center Christian Wood (right ankle sprain) back in the lineup before the season’s second half. They were 7-1 in their last eight games before Wood’s Feb. 4 injury.
The bad news is that the second-half schedule, at least on paper, appears to be more difficult. The Utah Jazz (25-6) and Los Angeles Clippers (23-10) have the two best records in the Western Conference, yet the Rockets didn’t play them a single time in the season’s first half. In the second half, they’ll play the Jazz and Clippers a combined six times.
The remainder of the @HoustonRockets schedule: pic.twitter.com/WO0VCypvY8
— Cayleigh Griffin (@cayleighgriffin) February 24, 2021
Houston will also face reigning MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Bucks twice after not playing them at all in the first half of the schedule. At +7.7, Milwaukee has the league’s second-best point differential.
See below for additional scheduling tidbits. Houston concludes its first-half schedule next Wednesday, March 3, when former Rockets star James Harden makes his only return visit with his new team, the Brooklyn Nets.
And how is this for a road trip? At Bucks, Jazz, Blazers, Lakers, starting with the Milwaukee to SLC back-to-back. Come home from that to play the Clippers before season finale in Atlanta. https://t.co/1Vhzhi4v87
— Jonathan Feigen (@Jonathan_Feigen) February 24, 2021
Aside from next Wednesday’s Nets-Rockets on ESPN and Warriors-Rockets on May 1 (ESPN), Houston is officially a League Pass team now.
— Kelly Iko (@KellyIkoNBA) February 24, 2021
Check that. Make it nine sets of back-to-backs. I left out a pair of games in as many nights against the Timberwolves March 26, 27. https://t.co/1Vhzhi4v87
— Jonathan Feigen (@Jonathan_Feigen) February 24, 2021
