NBA Power Rankings: Rockets Rise Above Cavaliers

The Houston Rockets are winners of two straight games against the Cleveland Cavaliers, who held the best record in the NBA before their recent losing streak.

The victories against the Cavs have pushed the Rockets up to No. 2 in NBA.com writer John Schuhmann's latest power rankings.

"The Rockets remain in second place in the West, having swept their two games against the best team in the East," Schuhmann writes.

"The two wins over the Cavs were different, though 3-point shooting (28-for-62, 45%) was critical in both, with Fred VanVleet hitting a pair of triples down the stretch on Wednesday. The Rockets blew double-digit, fourth-quarter leads in both, only to escape with wins with those VanVleet 3-pointers, a big tip-dunk from Amen Thompson on Saturday and Darius Garland missing free throws after an ill-advised foul from Tari Eason. The Rockets are 10-4 in clutch games over the last nine weeks, even though they haven’t shot particularly well from the field with the score within five in the last five minutes."

Thompson was a big part of the Rockets wins, and his insertion into the starting lineup has given the team a tremendous amount of success.

"Thompson recorded his second career triple-double (23, 14 and 10) on Saturday, also acting as the primary defender on Donovan Mitchell," Schuhmann writes. "The Rockets’ starting lineup (with Thompson) has been outscored by 10.3 points per 100 possessions in its 144 minutes over the 11 games since Jabari Smith Jr.’s hand injury. However, it was mostly the starters (and a little bit of Eason) on the floor down the stretch of the two games against Cleveland."

The Rockets are only trailing the top-ranked Oklahoma City Thunder in the power rankings, which is their highest placement so far this season.

The Rockets are back in action this week with another big game on the road against the Boston Celtics tonight at 6:30 p.m. CT. Then, the Rockets head to the southeast where they will play the Atlanta Hawks tomorrow in a rescheduled game from earlier this month. After that, the Rockets close out the month with a game against the Memphis Grizzlies on Thursday.