Rockets Drop to Sixth in USA Today's Latest Power Rankings

The Houston Rockets have shown that they can hang with just about anyone in the NBA. In fact, they even went toe-to-toe with the Oklahoma City Thunder, who are on pace to post the NBA's best record of all-time.

The Rockets went to double overtime with them on opening night, despite being hobbled and lacking offensive structure at times.

On most nights, the Rockets will be able to bully opposing teams with their size, as they run a rotation of three legitimate centers. It's why they lead the league in rebounds and offensive rebounds.

However, against teams like the Denver Nuggets, who can counter that punch with Nikola Jokic and Jonas Valanciunas -- two seven-footers of their own -- the Rockets' size is somewhat mitigated.

There wasn't as big of a rebounding discrepancy when the two squared off on Monday night. The Rockets still won the battle on the glass, but it was quite close, with Houston edging Denver 46 rebounds to 38.

Houston also had less offensive rebounds that their average, with 12 to Denver's seven. Compare that to the previous game against the Los Angeles Clippers, who boast a good center in Ivica Zubac.

The Houston won the rebounding battle 51-28 in that game. And the offensive rebounding battle was won 22-8. The Rockets were able to eak a victory out against the Clips, but it took a late game mishap by Los Angeles to seal the deal, which isn't convincing for a team that's now 6-20.

In USA Today's latest power rankings, the Rockets dropped from third to sixth, with writer Clemente Almanza explaining their placement.

"The Rockets survived a scare with a close win over the Clippers. That was their only game of the week. They've surprisingly had a weird schedule early, where they've played fewer games compared to the rest of the league. You have to wonder if that's affected Houston's hot start. It certainly helps Kevin Durant as he gets plenty of time to rest his legs. Now, the bill will eventually come due. It'll be interesting to see how they handle that inevitable problem."

The teams ahead of them are the Oklahoma City Thunder, Detroit Pistons, Denver Nuggets, San Antonio Spurs and New York Knicks.

(As a side note, Houston is 0-5 against those teams this season).

Starting Saturday, the Rockets will have to play 29 games in 54 days, which includes 12 back-to-back sets of games. As if the truncated schedule on the back end of the season wasn't daunting enough, the Rockets are winless in 2025-26 in such games (although they've only played two).