Sunday evening’s game against the New Orleans Pelicans should just be another run of the mill win against a bottom feeding opponent —— but that might not be the case. Their previous meeting proved to be more challenging than expected, as the young Pels erased a 25 point deficit to escape with a win on their home court. See the Roundtable review of that disaster here.
Despite the Pelicans having the worst record in the league (10-34), Houston can’t take this game lightly. They don’t have the track record to walk into the area and expect a win. This season has provided us with plenty of evidence to prove that.
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Ime Udoka and his team haven’t been able to pick up back to back wins since the turn of the calendar. They have, however, gone on a three game losing skid in 2026. All three of those losses came against teams below .500, greatly contributing to Houston’s 12-9 record against losing teams.
Back to back losses against the injury riddled Trailblazers definitely hurt, but allowing the Sacramento Kings to snap their seven game losing streak was just devastating. Especially when it extended Houston’s losing streak to three games.
Winning only 12 out of their 21 matchups against lower tier teams can’t give anyone a great deal of confidence. It’s almost a coin toss at this point.
Heck, wins in general have been a coin toss for the 2026 Houston Rockets, with only four wins and five losses this January.
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These are certainly the type of trends that fans and everyone in the organization would like to see end sooner rather than later. Heading into a critical stretch of the season, this is a surprisingly important game for this Rockets group. Check out a deeper breakdown of the upcoming schedule on Roundtable.
With this matchup landing near the end of Houston’s five straight games at home, it seems like an ideal time to pick up some positive momentum. A great opportunity to pile together some more wins.
After Sengun fouling out, and KD helping finish the final 1:19 of the 4th quarter, Houston got a much needed win against Minnesota Friday night. Closer than fans might’ve wanted with Anthony Edwards not available to play, but a win no less. Now they need to add onto that.
Winning tonight’s game would be great for the morale of the team. Getting to 5-5 for the month of January, getting the first back to back wins of the new year —— and getting some revenge on the team that fought back from 25 points to steal a win last month? Houston has multiple reasons to be motivated against the team with the worst record in the league.