Bleacher Report https://bleacherreport.com/articles/25261879-2025-26-nba-power-rankings 2. Houston Rockets (5-2) 29 of 30 Grant Burke/NBAE via Getty Images Previous Rank: 3 Net Rating: 12.3 After starting the season 0-2, the Houston Rockets have now rattled off five straight wins. And the scariest (for the rest of the league) may have happened on Wednesday. Despite leading scorer Kevin Durant going 5-of-18 from the field and scoring just 11 points, the Rockets pounded the Memphis Grizzlies, 124-109. And though the Grizzlies are a mess right now, you'd think holding KD to that kind of line would give you a chance to win. It didn't, because Houston's roster is absolutely loaded after Durant. Amen Thompson went for 28 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists. Alperen Şengün added 20 points, 16 boards and seven assists of his own. And four others reached double figures. With an aggressive, long and athletic defense and this balanced attack, the Rockets have looked about as good as anyone (but the top team) to start this season.
NBA.com https://www.nba.com/news/power-rankings-2025-26-week-4 #3 Houston RocketsLast Week:4↑ Record: 6-3 OffRtg: 121.7 (1) DefRtg: 112.1 (8) NetRtg: +9.6 (3) Pace: 98.6 (28) The Rockets lost their NBA Cup opener on Friday, turning the ball over 24 times in San Antonio. But they’ve won six of their last seven, with an impressive fourth-quarter comeback in Milwaukee on Sunday afternoon. Three takeaways The Rockets played nine guys in Milwaukee, and four of the nine grabbed at least four offensive rebounds, with Clint Capela getting his four in less than seven minutes of playing time. In total, it was the best offensive rebounding game for any team this season and took their season-long offensive rebounding percentage to 41.4%, easily the highest mark in the 30 seasons for which we have play-by-play data. The Rockets did get a taste of their own medicine on Friday, when the Spurs registered 33 second-chance points, more than Houston has scored in any game this season. That included five second-chance 3-pointers, and the Rockets had seen the league’s second biggest jump in opponent 3-point rate (44.8%, seventh highest) from last season (39.1%, third lowest). Reed Sheppard had a rough start to the season, getting attacked relentlessly by Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Thunder on opening night. But he’s shot 21-for-41 (51%) from 3-point range in the eight games since then, his minutes have been good for the Rockets over this 6-1 stretch, and he had two big buckets, three steals and a block in the fourth quarter on Sunday. He’s already played more than twice as many clutch minutes (11.1) as he did all of last season (4.9) Coming up: The Rockets are the only team that hasn’t had a back-to-back, and their first isn’t for another few weeks. They have just five games total over the next 14 days, with four of those five (including an intriguing matchup with the Blazers on Friday) at home. Week 4: vs. WAS, vs. POR*, vs. ORL
Nah, the Western Conference Championship is the actual finals series. OKC Rockets Denver San Antonio Lakers Minnesota Are all better than #1 in the least.
That was 9 games ago and they were lucky to play the Rockets in game 2. Spurs would have an argument though.
The Rockets are 3rd in NetRtg, slightly below OKC and Denver and way ahead of the 4th team. I thought the Spurs should be lower. They had a soft schedule so far and still didn't really dominate that much.
NBA.com https://www.nba.com/news/power-rankings-2025-26-week-5 Week 5 Team to Watch Houston — The Rockets have won nine of their last 10 games and will face two big tests this week. They’ll visit the Cavs on Wednesday and host the Nuggets in a huge Emirates NBA Cup game on Friday. #3 Houston Rockets Last Week:3 Record: 9-3 OffRtg: 123.1 (1) DefRtg: 111.9 (8) NetRtg: +11.5 (3) Pace: 98.6 (27) The Rockets are 9-1 since their 0-2 start, and they were able to grind out a comeback win over Orlando when their top-ranked offense wasn’t clicking on Sunday. Three takeaways Kevin Durant came to Houston to help the Rockets close games, and he hit two of the biggest shots in their overtime win over the Magic on Sunday, when the Rockets scored 30 points on 20 clutch offensive possessions. But Durant has a clutch usage rate of just 19.4%, third on the team behind Alperen Sengun (who sent the game to OT with a tough jump hook over Wendell Carter Jr.) and Amen Thompson. Durant logged more than 45 minutes on Sunday, when the Rockets played just eight guys, because Tari Eason (who’s 21-for-32 on wide-open 3s) was out with an oblique strain. Josh Okogie has started the last 10 games, but Reed Sheppard and Steven Adams were on the floor more in clutch time. Desmond Bane blew by Sheppard on a big play in the final minute of regulation and Okogie was on the floor for the biggest defensive possessions after that. The Okogie lineup has outscored opponents by 14.5 points per 100 possessions in its 128 total minutes, the second-best mark among the eight lineups that have played at least 100 minutes this season. The top three teams in the Western Conference are the only three teams that haven’t lost a game that wasn’t within five points in the last five minutes. The Rockets are 3-3 in the clutch after Sunday and 6-0 otherwise. Coming up: The Rockets have a couple of days off before playing a pair of marquee matchups, their first meetings with both the Cavs and the Nuggets. The road team won all three of its meetings against Denver last season. Week 5: @ CLE, vs. DEN*
Houston Rockets, Legit Title Contenders! https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/46967718/nba-tiers-all-30-teams-2025-2026-season
KD having lower clutch usage than Alpi/Amen is probably because he's been getting doubled more often. Imagine having to defend these KD/Sengun actions like last night. Brutal
The Athletic https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6814323/2025/11/17/nba-power-rankings-pistons-thunder-lakers/ 4. Houston Rockets (9-3) Last ranking: 4 In the last week: W vs WAS, W vs POR, W vs ORL Offensive rating: 123.4 (1st place) Defensive rating: 111.9 (8th place) Most notable injury: PG Fred VanVleet (right ACL) After a 0-2 start, the Rockets have won 9 of 10. They’re just thoroughly overwhelming on the glass, which makes up for whatever ball-handling loss they have with VanVleet out for the season. Houston is getting quite thin, as forward Dorian Finney-Smith (ankle) hasn’t debuted yet, while forward Tari Eason (oblique) is probably out until winter.
https://www.nba.com/news/power-rankings-2025-26-week-6_v2 #3 Houston RocketsLast Week:3 Record: 10-4 OffRtg: 122.5 (1) DefRtg: 112.1 (8) NetRtg: +10.4 (2) Pace: 98.1 (27) The Rockets split a pair of marquee games last week, holding off the Cavs in Cleveland but coming up short against the Nuggets on Friday night. Three takeaways The Rockets remain one of three teams – the Nuggets and Thunder are the others – that haven’t lost a game that wasn’t within five points in the last five minutes. They’re now 4-4 in the clutch after scoring just 10 points on 12 clutch possessions (with Kevin Durant shooting 0-for-3 and Alperen Sengun committing two turnovers) against Denver. Overall, they rank eighth in clutch offense (116.0 points scored per 100 possessions) after ranking 18th (106.6) last season. They went back to their big lineup last week, with Steven Adams getting his first two starts since the first two games of the season. The Rockets have been much better offensively (126 points scored per 100 possessions) in 255 minutes with Sengun at the five, but much better defensively (106.6 allowed per 100) in 261 minutes when he’s played alongside Adams or Clint Capela. Reed Sheppard played more minutes than Adams and Josh Okogie (the previous starter) combined on Friday, scoring a career-high 27 points on 9-for-13 shooting against Denver. Sheppard has still played just 31 total minutes alongside the four full-time starters, with the Rockets having allowed just 61 points on 63 defensive possessions (97 per 100) in those minutes. Coming up: Last season, the Rockets had the league’s biggest differential between their record with rest (45-20) and their record in the second games of back-to-backs (7-10). This season, they’re the only team that hasn’t played a back-to-back, and their first is a two-game set in Utah that begins on Sunday. They won’t have a rest-disadvantage game until mid-January. Week 6: @ PHX, @ GSW*, @ UTA
The Nuggets did win the biggest game of the week, holding the Rockets’ top-ranked offense in check and getting big nights from Nikola Jokić and Jamal Murray in Houston. They lost two double-digit leads, but still earned their first clutch win of the season. Denver is now 1-4 in games that were within five points in the last five minutes and still unbeaten (11-0) in games that weren’t close. They held the Rockets to just 10 points on 12 clutch possessions on Friday, but the Nuggets have still allowed 78 on 53 clutch defensive possessions (147 per 100) overall. The Kings’ eight-game losing streak came to an end on Sunday, when they scored 128 points on 96 possessions (Denver’s worst defensive game of the season), including 12 on six possessions with the score within five in the last five minutes.
My biggest takeaway is that LA and Detroit have unsustainable records. While of course teams with great one-on-one creators will always do well in the ‘clutch’, there is also a lot of luck and randomness. Winning 90%+ is not sustainable. “Good teams don’t win close games, they avoid them.”
