The Houston Rockets are coming off their worst season in almost 20 years. They finished last year with the league’s worst record and a franchise-worst 20-game losing streak. So it comes as no surprise that the Rockets, in many experts’, bookmakers’, and some fan's eyes, have virtually no shot at making the playoffs.
There is light at the end of the tunnel (no, not a train), and that is in the form of the NBA play-in game that was instituted last year and was approved again for this upcoming season. That means that you don't have to be a top-eight team to make the playoffs.