Rockets Can Still Beat Out Last Season's Record With Five Games Left

Houston has five games left in the regular season. There's a chance the team beats last year's record, giving heavy momentum entering the playoffs.

Dec 11, 2025; Houston, Texas, USA; Houston Rockets head coach Ime Udoka and center Alperen Sengun (28) look to the court during the third quarter against the Los Angeles Clippers at Toyota Center. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-Imagn Images | Troy Taormina-Imagn Images

Since becoming the head coach of the Rockets in 2023, Ime Udoka has improved Houston in each of the last two seasons. In his first 82 games in the position, he led a young core to a 41-41 record. The next season, the Rockets shot up to 52-30, snatching the second seed in the Western Conference.

The feeling over the last two years has been relatively positive regarding Udoka and Houston. However, this season has had a different sentiment with the arrival of Kevin Durant.

At the time, the Rockets didn't give away back-breaking assets to acquire one of the greatest scorers in NBA history. The expectation was even more improvement as Durant joined the core of Alperen Şengün, Amen Thompson and three other former first-round picks within the last five years.

But Houston has suffered from playing down to the competition. The lack of a point guard amid Fred VanVleet's ACL tear has hindered the offense, but the Rockets have been through plenty of rough patches, most recently going 6-8 from Feb. 28 to March 25.

With a 48-29 record entering Sunday night's matchup with the Golden State Warriors, Houston had a better record at this point last year (50-27). It's only a margin of one game, but the feeling is so different because no one expected a team this young to make an 11-win leap.

But entering their final stretch of the season, the Rockets are riding a five-game winning streak, carrying great momentum with injuries surrounding a few other Western Conference teams. They currently hold the fifth seed, but have an opportunity to once again grab home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs.

Houston will take on the Warriors, Phoenix Suns, Philadelphia 76ers, Minnesota Timberwolves and Memphis Grizzlies to close out the regular season. To tie its 2024-25 record, the team would need to win four of those games. Five straight wins to total the streak at 10 games would be incredible with a 2025-26 record of 53-29.

Is it a bit much to expect the Rockets to pull off that many wins in a row? Yes, because not too long ago, their fate looked sealed. But those opponents are all ceratinly beatable despite four of the five being locked into the postseason.

If Houston can tie or outdo last season's record, the team might just have done enough to sneak into a top-four seed. That sentiment from a few weeks ago would be flipped on its head entering the playoffs.