The Final Scheduled Rockets Summer League Game of 2022?

This is the penultimate Rockets last Vegas Summer League Game of 2022. If they win it by a lot, there’s some chance they’ll play in the VSL Finals. Or they’ll play someone else, selected in terms of desirability of the matchup, rivalries, etc.

If it is by some chance the VSL Final, the winning team gets a Vegas Summer League Champions Ring. One has to imagine it’s not quite the “We stuck a whole jewelry shop on a ring, irrespective of how it looks.” NBA Finals Champions ring. But maybe, in the spirit of Las Vegas, one can hope it’s a gaudy pinky ring?

Anyhow, it’s been a productive summer league for the Rockets, and hopefully it will end with a meaninglessly dominant 4-1 record.

For this game Josh Christopher is sitting out with “hip soreness”, and he did take a hard fall in the comeback win over San Antonio. But more likely it’s the Rockets thinking (but not saying) “Ok, Josh, we’ve seen enough of your shooting every shot. We’re pretty sure you can do that.” Though to be fair to him, his Game 2 was a well balanced effort.

We’re playing Portland, a team that is still on a competing trajectory for now (and until Lillard’s contract, and massive extension, runs out. Unfortunately, we won’t see Shaedon Sharp, who tore his labrum in some fashion two minutes into game 1 of VSL.

Portland fans (based on a brief personal sample) are not in love with their Summer League team and prospects. But they will admit that it’s much more of an attempt at having a VSL team than the previous effort sent by Neil Olshey, where it featured many players you might have thought were long retired.