Rockets Slide Back Into Top Three in NBA.com's Power Rankings

The Houston Rockets have continued to play some of the best two-way basketball in the NBA amid a hot start. After losing their first two games of the season, Houston has gone 16-4 to end up with a 16-6 record prior to Monday night's matchup with the Denver Nuggets.

The Rockets currently rank second in defensive rating, but also own the fourth-best offensive rating in the league. The second-chance opportunities have been plentiful, as the height-infused lineups featuring Steven Adams and Alperen Sengun have given them a 41.5% offensive rebounding percentage, the highest in the play-by-play era (1996-97).

Such success has bumped Houston back into the top three in NBA.com's latest power rankings from John Schuhmann. Last week, the Rockets were fourth, but a string of defeats from the Los Angeles Lakers dropped them to seventh, bumping a number of teams up one spot.

"The Rockets continue to have the highest offensive rebounding percentage in the 30 seasons for which we have play-by-play data (41.5%), and their 53.8% on Thursday was the highest single-game mark for any team this season," Schuhmann wrote.

"The go-ahead bucket, a tip-in from Amen Thompson with 17.2 seconds left, came on their fifth shot of the possession. Their offensive rebounding percentage in the clutch is 50.7%.

"[Reed] Sheppard has an effective field goal percentage of 60.7%, up from 45.2% last season. That’s the biggest jump among 224 players with at least 200 field goal attempts last season and at least 100 this season."

Sheppard has been one of the league's most improved players, averaging 12.9 points, 3.1 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 1.6 steals on incredible 48-44-71 shooting splits. The 6-foot-2 guard has taken advantage of increased opportunities, playing effective basketball on both ends of the floor.

The Nuggets and Oklahoma City Thunder are the only teams above the Rockets in Schuhmann's power rankings, but Houston will have a chance to prove itself against Denver tonight.

After losing to the Nuggets by just three points on Nov. 21, the Rockets could tie the season series with a victory in the Mile High City. A victory would also move them up in the standings to the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference.

Houston could have an extra boost tonight with Tari Eason (oblique) being questionable. The 6-foot-8 forward hasn't played since Nov. 14, and could add more depth with the roster starting to heal. Eason is averaging 11.5 points and 5.2 rebounds, leading the team in three-point percentage at 50.9%.