Thanksgiving week was a bit of a cornucopia (if you will) of surprises for your Houston Rockets. After a rough couple of weeks against very good teams, they entered a road stretch with some question marks. The emerged with answers, but not necessarily the ones we thought.

Going 3-1 and with Kevin Durant missing a pair of games for family reasons, a four-game road trip (turkey?) sandwiched around the Thanksgiving holiday and wrapped up with a pair of high altitude back-to-back games against the same team, it could have been much worse.

A Big Win in Oakland

If there has been a Houston Rockets nemesis the last 15 years, it is no doubt Steph Curry and the Golden State Warriors. Regular season, playoffs, injuries, lineup changes, it didn’t matter. The Warriors had the Rockets’ number. This time, the Rockets strode into the Bay Area with no Durant with fans hoping they could keep it respectable. They did better than that getting 31 from second-year guard Reed Sheppard in a come-from-behind win in Oakland.

Surprising the Surprising Suns

Don’t look now, but Phoenix is, uh, good? They have won some big games this year while missing key pieces including former Rocket Jalen Green. What was thought to be a lottery season for the Suns has been anything but so far. Which is why it was so satisfying to see a Durant-less Rockets go into the Valley of the Sun and absolutely destroy them 114-92 including 28 and a huge +25 from Amen Thompson.

Coasting and Crashing in Utah

The NBA schedule that finds team camping out in a city for multiple games like its baseball is just weird. Such was the case as the Rockets faced the terrible Jazz in Salt Lake City twice in a row at the end of a long road trip. After cruising in Game 1, you could almost feel the trap of a letdown looming and the Rockets did not disappoint dropping a sloppy game on the second night of a back-to-back at altitude. They should have won, but the NBA really needs to re-evaluate those kinds of scheduling blips.

Up Next

The Rockets have entered one of the softer stretches of their season with three of their next four at home and all but one against sub .500 teams. They need to make hay because that weak point on the calendar spins into three out of their next six in Denver (twice on the road within a week) and in LA for the Lakers.

This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2025.

Related