Rockets Oddly Moving up Power Rankings, Despite Up-and-Down Play

The Houston Rockets have not been playing good basketball of late. More over, they've simply not been putting out a good product.

Even if the power rankings tell a different tale.

To that point, Houston took a jump week-over-week in the latest power rankings by Law Murray of The Athletic (albeit a nominal one).

Houston jumped from eighth to seventh.

"The Rockets have some nasty losses this season where their offense simply can’t do what it needs to do," Murray explained. :Saturday in New York was the seventh time this season that the Rockets were outscored by more than 10 points in the fourth quarter. The Rockets have unsurprisingly lost six of those games, and the six losses all saw the Rockets fail to break 40 percent shooting from the field in the final quarter — the Rockets are a great net rating team, but their offense can’t be taken seriously, like most Kevin Durant teams with suspect or nonexistent point guard play."

That Houston would have any semblance of an improvement in league-wide rankings at this time is a bit of a surprise.

Just last week, Marc Stein had them ninth.

Houston dropped their last game before the All-Star break against the new-look LA Clippers, who had neither James Harden nor Ivica Zubac, in a game Houston led by 13 points in the second half. Houston was nearly outscored by Kawhi Leonard in the fourth quarter alone, as Leonard had 19 fourth quarter points, compared to Houston's 26.

The Rockets did pull out a victory over the Charlotte Hornets in their first game back from the All-Star break, but it took 35 points on insane efficiency by Kevin Durant (78.8 percent true shooting and 75 percent effective shooting).

Charlotte was playing without Miles Bridges -- their third-leading scorer.

The Rockets then faced off against the New York Knicks in front of a prime-time audience on Saturday night.

(In a rematch of the 1994 NBA Finals, which culminated in Houston's first NBA championship in franchise history).

Houston led by as many as 16 points in the second half. More over, the Rockets led by 16 entering the fourth quarter. Yet still lost, due to a major collapse in the game's final period.

The Rockets had nine turnovers in the fourth quarter alone, and were outscored 33-15 in the final period. Prompting criticism by Charles Barkley for their late game offensive execution, or lack thereof.

The Rockets' next trip out was against the tanking Utah Jazz. And while Houston made light work out of the Western Conference bottom-feeders, skating to a 125-105 victory (and leading by as many as 34 points at one point in the third quarter), it was still a relatively sloppy game. Especially considering the opponent.

Houston had 27 turnovers.

Against the Utah Jazz. And it's not like the Jazz are some pesky, ferocious defensive ball club. They rank dead last in defensive efficiency.

Again, I'd expect the Rockets to have taken a tumble, based on their recent stretch.

Houston takes the court again on Wednesday night against the Sacramento Kings, followed by a three-game road trip against the Orlando Magic, Miami Heat and Washington Wizards.