The are guaranteed to at least make the play-in tournament this season after defeating the Magic on Wednesday. That marks the first time the team has made an appearance after the regular season since the 2019-20. They still haven’t clinched a top-six seed that would keep them from the play-in, but they’re close, 5.5 games ahead of the seventh-seeded Clippers.

Houston has now won eight games in a row and climbed to second in the West. According to Houston Chronicle’s Danielle Lerner, the Rockets’ energy is high nearing the postseason.

“We’re just hooping,” forward said. “The overall motto that I say is, ‘Just have fun.’ You know, basketball is fun. Sometimes we get caught up in this or that or just narratives, or whatever the case may be, but I think we’re out there having fun. When you’re out there having fun, you play free. You play better.”

Several veterans and young players are helping the Rockets make the push.

“We don’t have one guy,” said. “is scoring guy, but we have every day, some different guys. So we don’t really care who scores. Everybody do their job. I get my rebounds. Tari, you have to rebound, Jabari [Smith], you have to get the rebounds. You know, we just all make each other’s job easy and I think that’s the really important thing about us, and I think that’s being helping us to win.”

We have more from the Southwest Division: