With a 114-104 win over the Brooklyn Nets on Wednesday night, the Houston Rockets grabbed their seventh straight victory, making them the first team in NBA history to go on such a winning streak after losing 15 straight games. It’s been an impressive turnaround for the young rebuilding team, who just two weeks ago had only one win to their name this season.
But starting with an impressive win over the Chicago Bulls in late November, the Rockets have been on an absolute roll. Since that win on Nov. 24 over Chicago, the Rockets have the league’s fifth-best offense. That’s a significant improvement from the start of the season, where Houston ranked last in offensive rating.
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Part of that improvement on offense has been the Rockets’ 3-point shooting, which ranks sixth in the league over the win streak, as they’re knocking down 40 percent of their shots from deep. That can be attributed to guys like Garrison Mathews and Eric Gordon finding their shots from deep over the win streak, helping Houston in crucial moments. Houston’s also got better performances from some of their key players like Christian Wood, Kevin Porter Jr. and Jae’Sean Tate to help lead this win streak.
One of the more notable factors that have stood out during this moment of success the Rockets are having is that it’s happening without rookie Jalen Green on the floor. Green suffered a hamstring injury during Houston’s win against the Bulls and hasn’t played since. The No. 2 pick in the 2021 NBA Draft hasn’t exactly been the greatest at contributing to wins for the Rockets this season, as his shooting numbers have been terribly inefficient (38.2 percent from the field, 27.8 percent from 3-point range).
With Green sidelined, it appears Houston has found some rhythm that’s helped them stack up wins in a way that they hadn’t experienced yet this season. Hopefully, when Green returns, which there hasn’t been a timetable placed on him as the Rockets are taking it week-to-week, he will be able to fit back into what the Rockets are doing now and help win more games for this franchise. But right now with the rookie sidelined, the Rockets are experiencing a great deal of success.
The journey to keep the win streak alive won’t be easy, as they have a matchup against the defending champion Milwaukee Bucks next, followed by games against the Memphis Grizzlies and Atlanta Hawks, but with the way the Rockets are playing, you certainly can’t count them out from tacking on a few more wins.
