Houston Rockets win division, land 2nd seed and will face Dallas in the first round

The Houston Rockets have won their division for the first time since their championship season of 1993-94.

The Rockets crushed the Utah Jazz Wednesday night in their regular season finale, then got the good news that the San Antonio Spurs lost to the New Orleans Pelicans. At 56-26, the Rockets take the Southwest Division. They take the #2 seed by tiebreaker with the LA Clippers (56-26) since the Rockets are a division winner and the Clippers are not.

The stage is now set for some poetic justice. Former Rocket Chandler Parsons and the Dallas Mavericks will be travelling to Houston this Saturday to start a first round best-of-seven series.

The Rockets were 3-1 against the Mavericks this season despite only having Dwight Howard healthy in one of those games. James Harden averaged 24.8 points a night in those four games, hitting 40% from three-point range, while Josh Smith was also strong, scoring 16.0 points on 50% from the field to go with 7.3 rebounds.

Game 1 – Sat. April 18, Dallas at Houston, 8:30 PM CT, ESPN
Game 2 – Tue. April 21, Dallas at Houston, 8:30 PM CT, TNT
Game 3 – Fri. April 24, Houston at Dallas, 6:00 PM CT, ESPN
Game 4 – Sun. April 26, Houston at Dallas, 8:30 PM CT, TNT
Game 5 – Tue. April 28, Dallas at Houston *
Game 6 – Thur. April 30, Houston at Dallas *
Game 7 – Sat. May 2, Dallas at Houston *

* if necessary