On Monday night, the Houston Rockets will face off against the New York Knicks, who are 33-20 and rank fourth in the Eastern Conference. The Rockets, by contrast, are 23-29 and 12th in the Western Conference.
Fortunately for the Rockets, tonight’s game will be played at the Toyota Center, where they’re 18-9 this season. By contrast, the Knicks are 14-12 on the road in 2023-24.
The Knicks are 16-6 since making the OG Anunoby trade shortly before the New Year, but are on a bit of a skid, as they’ve lost three of their last four games, despite playing in their home arena. Part of the issue has been injuries, as they’ve been without the aforementioned Anunoby, in addition to Julius Randle, not to mention Mitchell Robinson, who has been sidelined since December 8th.
The Knicks could also be without Isaiah Hartenstein, the former Rockets center, who is listed as questionable.
Houston Rockets full injury report vs. Knicks
As for the Rockets, they could be without their best player in Alperen Sengun, whose status is up in the air die to a lower back injury, which also has him listed as questionable. The star center missed Saturday’s game against the Atlanta Hawks.
The Rockets will be without Fred VanVleet, due to an adductor strain, along with Cam Whitmore, who has an ankle sprain.
Tari Eason will also be out, as he’s battling a lower leg injury that has caused him to miss 22 straight games.
If I had to make a prediction regarding Sengun’s status, it would be that he’d suit up tonight. The Rockets are on a downturn, having lost seven of their last 10 games, in addition to posting a 7-10 record in January.
The Rockets are currently three games back from the Golden State Warriors, who currently hold the 10th seed and final spot for the play-in tournament in the West. The Rockets will play just one more game before the All-Star break, which would give them eight days of rest and recovery.
They’d surely like to head into the break on some sort of a positive note.
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