The Houston Rockets went through a relatively soft part of their schedule over the last couple weeks and emerged 5-2 over the last couple weeks. There were a pair of disappointing, but not all that surprising losses against the Jazz and Mavs, but overall, this remains a very good basketball team.

The problem is they have dealt with their first struggles thanks to injury this season. They got one star back, but lost another, but they have plenty of time to rest up before the schedule gets very tough. Let’s review.

Injuries Starting to Hurt

After the loss of Fred VanVleet for the season, the Rockets have not had substantial injuries thus far to their core players. Bumps and bruises here and there are normal, but over the last week, their depth has been seriously tested with multiple players out at the same time. That seemed to catch up with them Saturday when they were blown out by Dallas. Alperen Sengun missed his second consecutive game with an illness and Steven Adams sat, as is the team’s policy for him on the second half of back-to-back games. That left some giant holes in the frontcourt, particularly against Mavs forward Anthony Davis. It’s worth noting that Adams might be one of the most important players on the team so far this season.

They remain without Tari Eason, who is expected to miss at least another week or two with a hamstring strain. Dorian Finney-Smith, who has yet to suit up, is aiming for January, but nothing firm there yet. While this team has a ton of depth, it is absolutely being tested at the moment. Health is the great equalizer, particularly in the NBA. While none of these injuries appear to be serious, they need to get healthy quickly. Fortunately…

A Week of Rest

In a weird quirk of the schedule, the Rockets go from a stretch of five games in six nights including a pair of back-to-backs to a week with literally one game thanks in part to the Emirates NBA Cup which takes place this week. With the Rockets eliminated, they only have one game against the miserable Clippers this week on Thursday before a weekend off.

This would be a great time to get healthy and back to as close to full strength as possible because…

A Gauntlet Awaits

Starting next week, the Rockets face the Nuggets twice in Denver amidst a six-game road trip that culminates on Christmas Day in LA against the Lakers. It will be one of the tougher slates of games over the next month-plus. The Nuggets present real issues for the Rockets and having to go against them twice at altitude will be a challenge. Finishing up that stretch against a surging Lakers on Christmas (the first unofficial day of the NBA year) in prime time puts a bow on quite a holiday.

Up Next

As we mentioned, the Rockets face on the Clippers this week at Toyota Center on Thursday. James Harden returns as one of the top ten scorers in league history, recently passing former sort-of Rockets teammate Carmelo Anthony. The Clips are awful so far with the recent mess involving (yet another) former Rocket Chris Paul, who left the team for good, only following the offseason scandal with reports of owner Steve Balmer funneling extra money to Kawaii Leonard to circumvent the salary cap. Bradley Beal is done for the season with an injury and they have lost numerous others to various problems. They still have Harden and Leonard, but this has been a brutal season for what was supposed to be a legitimate contender. See you Thursday!

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

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