The Houston Rockets are off to a very solid start. And so far, they have been playing the best basketball that they have played in years.
This season, the Rockets have gone 5-3 in their first eight games, the team's best record through that span since the 2019-2020 season. Not so coincidentally, this was former Rockets head coach Mike D'Antoni's last year with the team.
Now, Ime Udoka is the captain of the ship, and in his very first season, he is leading them to play the best basketball they have played since D'Antoni left. This early success has not gone unnoticed, as former NBA center and current ESPN analyst Kendrick Perkins praised the Rockets head coach on X.
"Ime got the Rockets playing some damn good basketball!!!! Real Talk," Perkins said.
After last season, a lot of different analysts were down on the Rockets, as the team looked like it was heading downhill fast and that it could not be saved. But Udoka and the rest of the Rockets have proven everyone wrong and have exceeded all of the expectations that everyone had for them before the season started.
Udoka will look to use this strong start to the season and continue to build on it. The Rockets will get a real chance to prove themselves in their next game when they take on one of the toughest teams in the league.
They will be in action on Sunday against Nikola Jokić and the defending champion Denver Nuggets. Tipoff is set for 6 p.m. CDT in the Toyota Center.
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