Winners of six of their last seven games, the Rockets swept their three-game homestand with impressive performances that showed their range in being able to beat you in a variety of ways.
A few thoughts:
If there’s one thing I’ve learned about the media voters for MVP, it’s that most of them are looking for simple things to push the narrative. They want a simple stat or a simple highlight to make that decision for them — take a look at Russell Westbrook winning last year because of the whole ‘triple-double’ thing when he didn’t even have as good of an individual season nor as strong of team success as a well-known bearded fella here in Houston. And let’s not forget what Kawhi Leonard’s “block” last year against the Rockets did for his campaign.
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Against the Warriors Saturday night, James Harden had that MVP moment that voters look for: his game-clinching shot over Stephen Curry. He’s the frontrunner again and, if he remains healthy, I think he takes it this year.
I can’t stress enough how good Chris Paul has been. Aside from the playmaking, the mid-range game, the defense… the dude shot 54.2% from beyond the arc on over 8 attempts per in the last three games, including several triples that keyed comebacks. It has to be brutal for opponents knowing that, not only do they have to deal with Harden and Paul together, but they’ll always have to deal with at least one of them at all times.
Speaking of Paul, he’s been very tight-lipped and emotionless with the media since the Clippers incident, though he has softened with each game. Can you really blame the guy? The media jumped the gun on that Los Angeles locker room story — even the always-reliable Adrian Wojnarowski, who clearly got info from the Clippers, butchered the details, and there were few, if any, retractions. There are still fans who believe Paul led an attack on the Clippers locker room through a secret passageway and Clint Capela was a decoy at the door. Several Rockets players, mostly Paul, took an unfair hit to their reputations. He has a right to be untrusting of the media right now.
Defense! Now that everybody is back, folks… it’s happening again. The Rockets were 6th in the league in defensive rating through the first 26 games before Luc Mbah a Moute got hurt, holding opponents to 102.1 points per game. Sprinkle in a few more injuries and things went south quick, with opponents dropping 109.9 points per 100 possessions against the Rockets in the next 16 games. But in this three-game homestand that included a matchup against the league’s top offense, the Rockets came in with a 101.4 defensive rating. That’s a small sample size, but it’s progress.
I’ve been hammering Ryan Anderson but I honestly don’t think I’ve been harsh enough. He has gone from misfiring to simply not firing at all, passing up open threes fairly often. Think about it — in the last three games, PJ Tucker has taken more threes than Anderson. Tucker! Anderson is a shooter, a guy who used to average 17+ a night, who appears to have lost his confidence and has become a $20 million John Doe rebounder. When he’s open for three but a player is closing on him, even from 10 feet out, Anderson balks. Make or miss, we need Anderson to take those shots. When the Rockets were truly thriving in that 25-4 start, Anderson was a 40% three-point shooter, taking 6-7 threes a night. He’s shooting 29.9% on 4.8 attempts in more minutes since then. The silver lining is there was a moment in the second quarter last night where Anderson didn’t hesitate, launching quick-release threes with Hassan Whiteside in his face.
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Eric Gordon was ballin’ against Minnesota, carrying the Rocket offense on a night when Harden was shaking off the rust in his return from a hamstring injury. But in the two games since, Gordon has struggled, going 0-for-16 from three-point range. What you love about Gordon, unlike Anderson, is that he does not hesitate whatsoever. Give him the smallest of openings and he’ll get that shot off in a flash. But truth be told, he’s off this year from deep (33% on nearly 10 threes a game) — and he knows it. Long after the media was gone last night, Gordon exited the locker room to head home. I was talking with a friend in the hallway at the time and Gordon saw that we had the box score sheet. He stopped and asked to take a look at it. He gave it a long stare and shook his head. He knows his shot is AWOL right now. I have a feeling he’s going to come up big Wednesday in Dallas.
So now we know that Gerald Green is the odd man out of the rotation — he didn’t play a single minute in last night’s win. It’s very tough to bench a guy who is hitting 41.% from three on high volume, but what can you do? Mbah a Moute and Trevor Ariza gobble up the wing minutes and Tucker plays a key role. Gordon, while struggling, is way too important to bench for Green. Anderson is interesting but he plays the four and gets rebounds. If the Rockets go small more, yeah, then they can get Green minutes, but it’s a tough situation. Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta came into the locker room after the game, congratulated the team, said hello to Harden and then went right to Green as they gave each other a hug and talked for awhile. I don’t know if being out of the rotation was a topic of conversation, but I found it interesting that it was Green that Fertitta spent time with.
Armed with a bizarre fascination for Mario Elie and a deep love of the Houston Rockets, Dave Hardisty started ClutchFans in 1996 under the pen name “Clutch”.
All three were commanding victories, starting with a road victory on Christmas over the Los Angeles Lakers, and they all came with Finney-Smith as a new addition to the rotation. Though he signed with the Rockets in July, Finney-Smith sat out the first 27 games of the 2025-26 regular season due to offseason ankle surgery.
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In 45 minutes over those three games, the Rockets have a +21.0 net rating differential with Finney-Smith on the floor. By defensive rating, they are 14.3 points better when he plays.
Offensively, the versatile 6-foot-7 forward is making 42.9% of his 3-pointers, and that’s coming off a 2024-25 campaign in which he shot a career-best 41.1% from distance (with the Los Angeles Lakers and Brooklyn Nets).
“He’s an underrated feel-for-the-game guy,” Pacers head coach Rick Carlise said prior to Houston’s victory over Indiana on Monday night. “He’s a quiet connector for a team. He’s about all the right stuff. He’s a winner.”
Carlisle previously coached Finney-Smith for multiple seasons with the Dallas Mavericks.
“It feels amazing,” Finney-Smith said of his health and how he’s currently feeling. “Just happy to be out there. Once I’m on the court, I don’t feel anything. Winning is the most important thing, and I’m just grateful to be out there.”
Ime Udoka, head coach of the Rockets, pointed to “more versatility” as one of the primary benefits of Finney-Smith’s return.
“He is a seasoned veteran, high IQ, and communicator,” Udoka said (via Brian Barefield, Rockets Wire) “Something we have lacked at times is our communication. I think his awareness of every situation is really high. He has been around and done all those roles.”
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For the time being, Finney-Smith is limited to approximately 15 minutes per game. Prior to his three appearances in recent days, he hadn’t played in an NBA game since last April, so the Rockets will be understandably cautious as they ramp up his activity.
But that minutes limitation is expected to gradually increase over the weeks ahead, and the Rockets are hopeful that Finney-Smith will be a major contributor by the time the 2026 Western Conference playoffs begin in April. Ideally, he can replace much of what the Rockets lost when they sent Dillon Brooks to the Phoenix Suns in the Kevin Durant trade.
“Whether it is off the bench or starting, he gives us a little more depth at the wing, and he can guard up or guard down,” Udoka says of Finney-Smith. The 32-year-old is widely known around the league for his “3-and-D” skill set on the wing, when healthy.
With an improving defense, Houston (20-10) enters calendar-year 2026 with three consecutive victories and a spot at No. 4 in the Western Conference standings. Next up is a New Year’s Day clash at Brooklyn, where Finney-Smith played for portions of the past three seasons.
In this roundtable conversation, ClutchFans Editor Dave Hardisty joins Ben DuBose and Paulo Alves to preview the NBA’s upcoming transaction window and its potential implications for the 16-7 Houston Rockets.
December 15 is when players who signed contracts in the preceding offseason become trade eligible, so the period from Monday until the in-season deadline of February 5, 2026, is likely to be among the most active on the 2025-26 calendar.
Discussion topics include roster needs and potential trade targets across the board, including the likelihood of bigger-name deals (such as Giannis Antetokounmpo, Jrue Holiday, and James Harden) and smaller acquisitions along the lines of Keon Ellis, Chris Paul, and Ayo Dosunmu.
The show also explores Houston’s potential desirability on the buyout market and the team’s long-term timeline for title contention, and specifically why those factors might make this a relatively quiet trade window for the Rockets.
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Editor’s note: Hardisty and DuBose also host regular “ClutchFans Live” postgame recap shows on YouTube, while DuBose and Alves are co-hosts of the Rockets LaunchPod podcast, presented by ClutchFans and with support from SportsTalk 790 — official flagship radio station of the Rockets. Tune in to both shows for more coverage!
At 15-6, the Rockets are currently tied for the second-fewest losses in the Western Conference standings, and they own the NBA’s No. 2 net rating.
And yet, just two years ago, Houston was coming off three straight rebuilding seasons with the worst record in the West.
It’s been a remarkable rise under the guidance of general manager Rafael Stone, who has combined the development of young players such as Alperen Sengun, Amen Thompson, Jabari Smith Jr., and Reed Sheppard with the acquisition of impact veterans — namely, Kevin Durant, Steven Adams, and the injured Fred VanVleet.
Making matters even better, the Rockets added and developed all that talent while still retaining several high-end future draft assets, to boot. Houston believes that draft equity can make it a sustainable contender for years to come, both in terms of having desirable trade assets and an ability to replenish its roster depth in cost-efficient ways.
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With the 2025-26 regular season now at approximately its quarter pole, The Athletic recently canvassed 36 executives across the league — presidents, general managers, vice presidents, and assistant GMs — to rank the NBA’s top front offices.
Led by Stone, the Rockets’ front office comes in at No. 3, trailing only the last two champions — the Oklahoma City Thunder and Boston Celtics.
“High-end talent, a willingness to be bold, (and) good asset management,” one executive told The Athletic, when asked to sum up the Rockets.
Time for our annual crowdsourcing to determine the NBA's top front offices – ranked by the NBA's front offices. We found 36 team executives to give us their picks of the best ones right now, and their pick of one FO that is up and coming. In @TheAthletic:https://t.co/9QRrkK8R0b
Houston finished with one first-place vote; six second- and third-place votes, apiece; five fourth-place votes; and three fifth-place votes.
“They have drafted well, built a deep team in a tough Western Conference while managing tax aprons,” said one executive who voted the Rockets second. “(They) hired a good coach (Ime Udoka) and built an overall team identity, then added KD for cheap. From where they were only a few years ago, they have done a good job turning it around.”
Per Sam Amick of The Athletic, Stone “values this young core greatly and has frequently resisted the temptation to reach for overpriced roster shortcuts.” Udoka has an “influential voice” with the front office, as well, Amick adds.
Amick notes that the Durant trade came at a relatively low asset cost, adding that the Rockets are uninterested in pursuing a trade with the Memphis Grizzlies for disgruntled star Ja Morant.
The Athletic’s complete front-office rankings can be viewed here. This time a year ago, in the same exercise, Houston finished in a tie for the No. 11 spot.
After their Emirates NBA Cup 2025 elimination, the Rockets (12-4) learned two additional December dates for their 2025-26 regular season.
As announced Saturday by the league office, the Los Angeles Clippers (5-14) will visit Houston on Thursday, Dec. 11. Tipoff at Toyota Center will be at 7:00 p.m. Central.
Meanwhile, the Rockets (12-4) will then head to Denver on Monday, Dec. 15, where tipoff versus the Nuggets (13-5) is at 8:30 p.m. Central.
During Cup games, all three of the Clippers, Nuggets, and Rockets went 2-2 in Western Conference group-stage play. Because only four teams out of the 15 in each conference advance to the knockout rounds, a 2-2 record in group games isn’t usually enough to finish among the top four, and that was again the case this year.
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To ensure that all teams play 82 regular-season games, teams who don’t advance then have two additional December games scheduled versus same-conference opponents who also did not advance.
In most cases, these add-on matchups come down to a formula. Taking Houston as an example, each season’s schedule includes two games (one home, one away) versus all East opponents and four games (two home, two away) versus most West opponents.
However, if that was the case for all same-conference opponents, the schedule would be at 86 games in length. So, there is a select group — rotating each year — of same-conference opponents on the docket only three times.
To trim down to 80 games (to account for the possibility of Cup advancement), the six West teams with only three dates on Houston’s initial 2025-26 schedule were the Clippers, Nuggets, Warriors, Oklahoma City Thunder, Minnesota Timberwolves, and Los Angeles Lakers.
Add-on games are typically chosen from that group, and the Thunder and Lakers advanced in Cup play, thus taking them off the table. So, it came down to two teams from the other four.
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Led by James Harden, the reeling Clippers have yet to play Houston this season, though they will meet again on Dec. 23 in Los Angeles.
Meanwhile, the Nikola Jokic-led Nuggets enjoyed a close Nov. 21 victory in Houston. For the Rockets, Kevin Durant and Alperen Sengun each struggled in that game.
Now, less than a month later — in a matchup that could prove pivotal in the West standings race — Durant and Sengun (assuming health) will get an opportunity to make amends.
Denver and Houston are currently tied for the No. 3 spot in the West (trailing the Thunder and Lakers), though the Rockets are technically ahead by percentage points due to playing two fewer games. Thus, that Dec. 15 rematch could have significant stakes for both sides.
Relative to their expected formula from the 2025 offseason, the Rockets were missing five rotation players in Wednesday’s Thanksgiving Eve playoff rematch versus the Warriors.
Kevin Durant (personal reasons), Steven Adams (right ankle tendinopathy), and Tari Eason (right oblique strain) were all sidelined, and veterans Fred VanVleet (right knee) and Dorian Finney-Smith (left ankle) remain on the shelf after offseason surgeries.
Yet, the Rockets (12-4) still won for a 12th time in 14 games, and they overcame a 14-point road deficit against a high-profile Golden State squad featuring the likes of Steph Curry, Jimmy Butler, and Draymond Green.
The biggest reason was second-year guard Reed Sheppard, who set career-highs in points (31) and rebounds (9) while making 12-of-25 shots (48.0%), including four 3-pointers.
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“He was big,” said head coach Ime Udoka, whose Rockets won despite shooting below 40% overall and 30% from 3-point range. “Reed really held us together when guys were struggling.”
For the season, Sheppard — a starter for Udoka over the past two games — is averaging 14.3 points, 3.3 assists, 2.8 rebounds, and 1.6 steals in 24.9 minutes per game. He’s shooting 48.8% overall and 45.5% on 3-pointers, with the latter figure coming in at No. 11 among hundreds of qualified NBA players.
But the advanced metrics are even more impressive. Per Basketball Reference, here’s where Sheppard ranks among his NBA peers in several impact categories:
The only players with a superior BPM are a quartet of annual Most Valuable Player (MVP) frontrunners in Nikola Jokic, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Giannis Antetokounmpo, and Luka Doncic. At the moment, Sheppard is the league’s highest-rated American player!
To say the least, those are remarkable efficiency metrics for a 21-year-old in his second NBA season. And it’s not as if Sheppard is posting those in low-leverage minutes, as evidenced by the key plays he made in the fourth quarter to help put the Warriors away.
“Defensively is where he’s shown the most improvement, overall,” Udoka said from San Francisco. “I think he’s taking on the challenge. The blow-bys are getting less and less. He’s catching up with the physicality of the game. Teams are going to try to attack him, at times, but like we said last year and during this summer, make them go east and west and stay in front of them. Help will come. He’s doing a great job of that.”
Sixteen games in, it’s no longer a particularly small sample. Rounding, it’s actually 20% of the 82-game regular season!
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Assuming relative health, the 2025-26 Rockets had a high floor entering the season due to the All-Star presence of Durant and Alperen Sengun. But whether they could achieve a championship ceiling likely depended on further leaps from young players — most notably, the high-upside ones like Sheppard and Amen Thompson.
With Durant out, Thompson was the headliner in Monday’s road victory in Phoenix, and Sheppard stole the show two nights later at Golden State.
For everyone surrounding the organization, it’s an appropriate time to be thankful. With these leaps being shown from players who are extremely young and still improving, the Rockets appear set up to be a force in the Western Conference for quite some time.
“It’s going to be exciting when we get fully healthy and whole,” Udoka surmised.
