Lakers Game Is Key For Rockets

The Houston Rockets are currently on a three-game road trip, which continues on Sunday against the Phoenix Suns and concludes the following night against the Los Angeles Lakers.

With the Lakers and Rockets among the teams in the thick of things in the playoff standings, the game is paramount for both teams' overall success and placement in the postseason picture.

NBA.com analyst John Schuhmann labeled it as the most important game for the Rockets left in the season.

"The Rockets are at the top of the “everybody else” tier, having won 10 of their last 11 games. But they’re still just two games in the loss column ahead of the fifth-place Grizzlies," Schuhmann writes.

"Every win on this 10-1 stretch has come against a team currently below .500, and the Rockets will play their next two games against teams — Utah and Phoenix — in that below-.500 group. But six of their final seven games are within the top eight in the West, with two of those coming at Crypto.com Arena. The first of those two is Monday, when the Rockets will be at a rest disadvantage."

Houston will be tested in these final two weeks or so of the regular season, and if the team can rise to the occasion and pass, the Rockets will ride a lot of momentum going into the playoffs.

The Rockets face the Suns on Sunday at 8 p.m. CT before heading to Tinseltown to play LeBron James and the Lakers on Monday at 9 p.m. CT.