The Houston Rockets Are Having Trouble with Big Games

For the second season in a row, the Houston Rockets have cemented themselves as one of the league’s best teams.

Superstar scorer Kevin Durant, rising star Alperen Sengun and a host of two-way, up-and-coming players make Houston must-see TV on a nightly basis. They’ve jumped out to a 16-7 record, and have been battling for the Western Conference’s No. 2 and 3 seed for the better part of the regular season.

All in all, the Rockets are a far cry from their rebuilding stage of the early 2020’s.

Even still, things aren’t all sunshine and rainbows. The Rockets have a big game problem.

The team has just seven total losses, though nearly all of those have come against the league’s top teams. There’s no better example of that than the season opener, where Houston fought tooth and nail with the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder, only to fall late in double-overtime.

The Rockets would then drop their second game to Detroit — a four-point loss that was then seen as a bad outcome — though the Pistons are now 21-5 and leading the East.

Houston then rattled off five-straight wins, before dropping a game to inter-state rival San Antonio and French phenom Victor Wembanyama. Another five wins, then they lost to Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets, likely their top competition in the West with the Thunder out ahead in the wins column.

To this point, you can see the trend. We’ve covered four losses so far, all of which came to teams that are currently ranked higher, and that Houston could potentially be matching up with in the West Playoffs, as well as the No. 1 team in the East.

Houston recently ran into the Jazz on a hot shooting night, and lost to the Mavericks in Dallas. The latter are amid a down year, though still a Texas rival.

Finally, Houston again dropped a game to the Nuggets on Monday, suffering the very same 3-point deficit, this time in overtime with some late-game antics attached.

Ime Udoka on officiating after Rockets loss in Denver.

“Most poorly officiated game I’ve seen in a long time. Two have no business being out there and the crew chief was acting star struck.” @SpaceCityHN @HoustonRockets pic.twitter.com/8NIJFlWSW6
— Vanessa Richardson (@SportsVanessa) December 16, 2025

Regardless, the Rockets have struggled against the NBA’s best, something that will certainly need to be worked out before the Playoffs.

The trend isn’t concerning just yet. Houston has two thirds of their regular season to figure things out, though if they can’t, it won’t spell great things for the postseason.

Not only will the Rockets face off against the very teams that have given them trouble so far, but they’ll be doing so in an even tougher environment, where each possession matters a great deal more.

For now, Houston will take things one step at a time. They’ll face off against the Pelicans on Thursday, Dec. 18, in what should be a reset game, before the third game of the season against Nikola Jokic and the Nuggets on Saturday. That game could start Houston on a new trend, or cement the aforementioned issues.