The Rockets improved their record to 38-18 on the season with a thrilling 115-112 win at Phoenix. Dwight Howard scored 25 points with 9 rebounds and 2 blocks. James Harden added 23 points, 7 assists and 5 rebounds. Chandler Parsons had 13 points, 7 assists, 6 rebounds and Terrence Jones chipped in with 15 points and 7 rebounds. Patrick Beverley scored 20 points, including five points in the final 34.9 seconds, which lifted the Rockets to victory.

Goran Dragic produced a game high 35 points (5-for-8 threes) for the Phoenix Suns but thankfully it wasn't enough. The Rockets out-scored the Suns 64-42 inside the paint and they out-rebounded the Suns by a 43-34 margin. The Rockets trailed by 10 points after three quarters (93-83) but they were able to out-score the Suns 32-19 in the fourth quarter thanks to lockdown defense and excellent ball movement on offense.

The Houston Rockets remain the third seed in the Western Conference. Only two games behind the San Antonio Spurs for the second seed. Houston will have one off day on Monday before traveling to play the Sacramento Kings on Tuesday Night (10:05 PM Eastern). With only twenty-six games left to play this season the Rockets have to focus on every game. It seems like every game is going to have a playoff-like intensity.

I'm very pleased and excited that the Rockets are 9-1 in their last 10 games. They'll have to continue their winning ways.

The Rockets defeated the Kings 129-103 and rested all five of their starters in the fourth quarter after they built a commanding 33-point lead. Despite only playing three quarters, James Harden was on fire scoring a season high 43 points with 8 assists, 3 steals and 2 rebounds. Dwight Howard only played 24 minutes and also had a monster game playing very few minutes: 20 points, 11 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 blocks.

With a tough back-to-back road game at Staples Center tonight against the Los Angeles Clippers (10:35 PM Eastern on ESPN), it was good that the Rockets were able to rest their starters last night. I'm excited to watch tonight's game against the fifth best record team in the Western Conference. With a 39-18 record the Rockets remain the third seed in the Western Conference playoff race, and they move to only 1.5 games back of the 40-16 Spurs for the second best record in the West. The Rockets are 3-0 against the Spurs this season so they just need to tie them due to owning the head-to-head tiebreaker.

The Rockets finished their tough five-game West Coast trip with a 3-2 record which isn't bad but it's not good enough in a tight Western Conference playoff race. The Los Angeles Clippers benefited from all of the mistakes by Houston to win 101-93. The Rockets committed 20 total turnovers which led directly to 30 points for the Clippers while the Rockets only scored 10 points off the 11 turnovers by the Clippers. That 20-point differential solely based on turnovers is obviously huge in a game decided by eight points.

The Rockets are now 0-3 this season against the Clippers and play them one more time on March 29 in Houston. The Rockets just don't match up well against the Clippers so if they end up meeting each other during the playoffs the Rockets better play a lot better. The Rockets record is now 39-19 and they only have 24 games left to play this season. The Rockets return home to play the Pistons on Saturday Night (8:05 PM Eastern).

Hopefully the Rockets can start a new winning streak. I don't want to see them limping into the playoffs without home court advantage in the first round.

The Rockets had little trouble defeating the Pistons 118-110. Houston put the game away early with a 41-20 lead after the first quarter and led by as many as 25 points during the second quarter. It was the first time since the 2007-2008 season that the Rockets scored over 40 points in a quarter. The Rockets didn't play nearly as well in the second half and rested on that big lead but it was still good enough to win.

Terrence Jones was the player of the game with 22 points and 10 rebounds. James Harden had a nice game overall with 20 points, 12 assists, 5 rebounds and 3 steals. Dwight Howard added 17 points and 8 rebounds. Patrick Beverley scored 19 points while shooting a career high 5-for-9 from downtown. Newly acquired Jordan Hamilton, who started at Small Forward in place of a Flu-ridden Chandler Parsons, scored 13 points.

The Rockets next play the Miami Heat in Houston on Tuesday Night. An 8:05 PM Eastern game. NBA TV has picked up the game.

The Rockets won a thrilling game 106-103 at home against the two-time defending NBA champion Miami Heat. The Rockets built up a 15-point lead despite committing 18 turnovers which continues to be a problem. They out-rebounded the Heat 46-33 and made a few more hustle plays late in the game to pull it out. A night after scoring 61 points, LeBron James was held to only 22 points and shot 0-for-3 from the three-point line.

Dwight Howard had 22 points and 16 rebounds. Terrence Jones added 19 points and 12 rebounds. James Harden poured in 21 points with 11 assists and Patrick Beverley was huge in this game scoring 19 points. He was 5-for-8 shooting threes and most of them were wide open looks because opposing teams often don't bother trying to defend him. And on the other end of the court Patrick Beverley played amazing defense (3 steals), often times matched up one-on-one with LeBron James, who is much bigger than he is.

The Rockets improved their overall record to 41-19, third seed in the Western Conference, and they play at Orlando tonight (7:05 PM Eastern).

Despite trailing 48-41 at halftime the Rockets stormed back to beat the Magic 101-89 at Orlando last night. James Harden (14), Dwight Howard (11) and Terrence Jones (9) combined to score all 34 of the Rockets' points during that period. The Rockets out-scored the Magic 34-17 during the third quarter which turned the game around. James Harden scored a game high 31 points. Dwight Howard had 19 points and 13 rebounds while Terrence Jones added 17 points and 11 rebounds.

Chandler Parsons, who grew up in Orlando, returned to his hometown and had a good all-around game with 19 points, 7 assists and 6 rebounds. The Rockets improved their overall record to 42-19 on the season and are currently the third seed in the Western Conference playoff race. The next game is on Friday Night when the Houston Rockets host the Indiana Pacers at the Toyota Center. The game starts at 9:35 PM Eastern and will air nationally on ESPN.

The Rockets won their fourth game in a row, 112-86 over the Pacers, to improve their record to 43-19 on the season. Behind a dominating 38-16 effort in the third quarter, led by James Harden's 16 points in that quarter, the Rockets put the game away with an 88-59 lead going into the fourth quarter. Dwight Howard and James Harden didn't play at all in the fourth quarter of a blowout game.

The Rockets received a combined 42 points from their bench with Jeremy Lin (11) and Donatas Motiejunas (10) both scoring in double figures. Jordan Hamilton scored 7 points with 3 steals, and rookies Isaiah Canaan and Troy Daniels both scored 5 points apiece. Omer Asik picked up 2 nasty blocks and 6 rebounds.

Houston is aiming for five wins in a row on Sunday Night against the Portland Trail Blazers. It's a 7:05 PM Eastern tip off time.

The Rockets won their fifth game in a row with a thrilling 118-113 overtime win against the Portland Trail Blazers. James Harden had an incredible game filling up the stat sheet: 41 points, 10 rebounds, 6 assists and 6 steals. It was the first time since Michael Jordan back in the 1985-1986 season that an NBA player put up those kind of numbers in a game. Jeremy Lin was big off the bench scoring 26 points.

Houston's record is now an impressive 44-19 on the season and they are only 2.5 games back from having the best record in the NBA. With only nineteen games left to play this season every game is noticeably important going down the stretch. The Rockets next game is on Tuesday Night at Oklahoma City. It's an 8:05 PM Eastern start time against Kevin Durant and the Thunder.

Another nice winning streak came to an end as the Rockets lost 106-98 to the Oklahoma City Thunder. It was a hard-fought road game that had a playoff-like intensity. Unfortunately for the Rockets they couldn't make enough shots. The Thunder used a 30-17 second quarter in which the Rockets only made 6-of-22 field goals to blow the game open. They shot a disappointing 9-for-25 from three-point range (36 %) and they missed 11 costly free throws. In a game they lost by only eight points, after fighting back from a 16-point halftime deficit to pull within 5 points with just under two minutes left, all of those potential points they left on the table were costly.

The Rockets record is now 44-20 with 18 games left to play this season. Their next game is Thursday Night at Chicago against the Bulls. It's a 7:05 PM Eastern start time and it will be nationally televised on TNT. The Rockets have to regroup and try to win that game. It doesn't get any easier when they play at Miami on Sunday afternoon but I believe the Rockets will respond in a positive way after a tough loss.

I'm ready for the 2014 NBA Playoffs to start next month. I believe the Houston Rockets can make some noise and advance to at least the Western Conference Finals. A lot of these regular-season games have been a good learning experience. This team has potential to play a lot better. I don't know why their three-point shooting has been so awful lately but hopefully it will pick up. In the last two games they were 2-for-12 and 1-for-14 shooting threes at halftime and trailed in both games. Sometimes the shots just don't go down. That's basketball.

The Houston Rockets lost their second game in a row with an embarrassing 111-87 loss at Chicago. Not only did the Rockets never have the lead in that game but they trailed by as many as 29 points. The major difference in the game was three-point shooting. The Rockets shot a horrendous 5-for-26 (19.2 %) while the Bulls shot 14-for-24 (58.3 %). Besides that the Rockets also shot 28-for-79 from the field which is only 35.4 %. It's hard to win games when you shoot that poorly as a team and the other team is shooting lights out.

Dwight Howard only scored 12 points with 7 turnovers and James Harden only scored 8 points. Both of them were limited to only 28 and 26 minutes played once the game turned into a blowout. It's hard to beat any team when your two best players have a bad night. You have to give credit to the Bulls defense. Their center Joakim Noah is leading the way and playing at an MVP level right now.

The Rockets drop to 44-21 on the season. They still have the edge and tiebreaker over Portland (two-game lead) for that 4th seed in the Western Conference playoff race with only 17 games left to play. At this point I'm just hoping for home court advantage in the first round of the playoffs. Hopefully Houston can end their little losing streak Sunday afternoon at Miami. It's going to be a 3:35 PM Eastern start on ABC.