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How unlikely scenario is now playing out for Texans with one early victory
Jan 2, 2024, 11:16 am
The Texans need one more win to make the postseason. Photo by Tim Warner/Getty Images.
It’s simple: beat the Indianapolis Colts on Saturday and the Houston Texans make the playoffs. Period. Regardless of what happens with other teams the final weekend of the 2023-(24) NFL season.
If they win, and depending how other games shake out this weekend, the Texans could find themselves either AFC South Division winners and host a playoff game, or a wild card team on the road.
But if the Texans lose or tie, they will not be a playoff team. End of story.
No matter what happens Saturday night, though, this has been a remarkable, joyful, improbable Texans season that restored a city’s faith and favor in a team that frankly had abandoned its fans in recent years.
Consider the run of events that has led the Texans to its current 9-7 mark and guaranteed winning season – most notably drafting C.J. Stroud and hiring head coach DeMeco Ryans. Despite those additions, coming off two seasons with seven wins combined, Vegas oddsmakers put the Texans’ preseason win total at 5-1/2.
The Texans exceeded that number by beating the Arizona Cardinals way back on Nov. 19. Rules say that win total bets aren’t paid until the end of the season. So Texans backers need to keep their betting slips in a safe place for another week.
While their 9-7 record has Texans fans giddy and gobbling up tickets again, the season coulda shoulda been even better. The Texans lost three games to losing teams – the Atlanta Falcons (7-9), plus disappointing performances against the awful New York Jets (6-10) and positively pathetic Panthers (2-14).
The Texans do hold wins against winning teams Pittsburgh Steelers (9-7) and AFC South leaders Jacksonville Jaguars (9-7).
Here’s something nobody could have predicted. Secondary markets already are selling advance tickets in case things break the Texans’ way and they host a wild card game at NRG Stadium. Tickets currently start at $169 for Row E in nosebleed Sec. 643, all the way up to $1,969 for Row Q in lower bowl Sec. 137. Prices will skyrocket if the Texans win the AFC South this weekend. Refunds will be made if the Texans lose Saturday or find themselves on the road.
Everything depends on the Texans defeating the Colts on Saturday night. The Texans currently are 1-point underdogs.
Here’s one early victory, though. Because the game has landed on ABC, thousands of DirecTV and Uverse subscribers in Houston will get to watch, unaffected by Tegna’s squabble with AT&T stations including local Channel 11.
Fred VanVleet scored 26 points, Amen Thompson added 25 and the Houston Rockets avoided elimination with a 131-116 rout of the Golden State Warriors in Game 5 of a first-round playoff series Wednesday night.
he's COOKIN' 🔥 pic.twitter.com/e5dUnmrRxE
— Houston Rockets (@HoustonRockets) May 1, 2025
Game 6 is Friday in San Francisco.
Warriors coach Steve Kerr threw in the towel early in this one with the game out of hand. A layup by VanVleet midway through the third quarter made it 93-64, and Kerr called timeout and cleared his bench.
Houston coach Ime Udoka followed suit with about a minute to go in the third and his team up 105-76. He put all his starters back in with about eight minutes left after Golden State cut the lead to 109-92.
Dillon Brooks added 24 points on a night when all five Houston scored in double figures.
DB finishing strong 💪 pic.twitter.com/vTNqLAFGZd
— Houston Rockets (@HoustonRockets) May 1, 2025
A 9-5 run by the Warriors got them within 114-101 before a fracas broke out with about four minutes to go. Pat Spencer pushed Brooks and then was ejected after headbutting Alperen Sengun in the ensuing scuffle.
Houston went on a 7-2 run after that to put the game away.
The Rockets put together their best game this postseason to extend the series after losing both games in California, including Game 3, which Jimmy Butler sat out with an injury,
They raced to a 14-point lead after one quarter and by the time Stephen Curry made his first basket on a 3-pointer midway through the second, they led 55-32.
They had a 27-point lead at halftime behind 19 points from VanVleet.
Butler managed just eight points in 25 minutes on 2-of-10 shooting after combining for 52 points in the two full games he’d played in this series.
Curry was 4 of 12 for 13 points after scoring more than 30 points in two of the first four games to move the Warriors within a game of clinching the series.
The Warriors made 15 of 44 3-pointers and shot 41.7% overall. The Rockets made 13 of 30 3s and shot 55.1%.
By extending the series, the Rockets have a chance to become the 14th team in NBA history to overcome a 3-1 deficit in a best-of-seven series. Houston has done it twice, most recently in the 2015 Western Conference semifinals against the Clippers.
The Warriors were on the wrong end of such a comeback, losing the 2016 NBA Finals to LeBron James and Cleveland after having a 3-1 advantage.
Golden State has dominated the Rockets in the playoffs, eliminating them four times between 2015 and 2019.
VanVleet caught up with Vanessa Richardson after the win.
“The playoffs are about constantly improving.. getting better game to game.”
Let’s build on this & handle business back in The Bay 👏 pic.twitter.com/M8pOOUqPxv
— Houston Rockets (@HoustonRockets) May 1, 2025