For the Rockets, the path to the playoffs is clear.

Clarity does come when you have your longest losing streak of the season down the stretch to fall from sixth to 10th.

“It’s tough now,” Chandler Parsons said. “We basically have to win out. We do have to win out.”

Unless they somehow go from a five-game losing streak to a four-game winning streak, they will have turned into the Boston Red Sox without the fried chicken and beer.

If they do somehow pull off such a spectacular turnaround, they still might not get in. It is, however, easier to see them getting the help they need than the four wins.

With the Suns and Jazz holding the tie-breakers against the Rockets, the Rockets’ only way in to the playoffs is to get past both in the standings. The Rockets have to win in New Orleans tonight, take care of the freefalling Warriors and somehow win in Miami, where the Heat have the league’s best home record and the Rockets will be playing their sixth game in eight days.

via Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle