Jan. 26, 2026, 1:52 p.m. CT
With four wins in their last five games, the Houston Rockets (27-16) are back on the rise in NBA power rankings for the 2025-26 season.
This week, NBA.com ranks the Rockets at No. 3 in the league, up from No. 8 a week ago.
Only the Pistons (33-11) and Oklahoma City Thunder (37-10) are ranked ahead of Houston, and the Rockets won at Detroit last Friday. All-Star forward Kevin Durant dropped 32 extremely efficient points in that victory.
As John Schuhmann of NBA.com explains, Houston’s sudden surge is due in large part to the quality of its wins, as well as adjusting for a relatively difficult schedule.
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The Rockets lost in overtime in Philadelphia on Thursday, but they have wins over the Timberwolves, Spurs, and Pistons in the last 10 days. Only Detroit (14-6) has been better in games played between the 17 teams currently over .500 than Houston (15-7). …
Even with the win in Detroit on Friday, the Rockets have the league’s biggest differential between their home record (15-3) and their road record (12-13). They’ve got 10 games before the All-Star break and seven of them are at the Toyota Center, with the Spurs making a return visit on Wednesday.Â
Additional statistical data, both from a player and team perspective, is available via the updated NBA.com rankings.
By record, San Antonio and Denver (both 31-15) remain slightly ahead of the Rockets in the Western Conference standings.
But Houston has a slightly superior point differential (+6.1 compared to +5.0 for the Spurs and +4.5 for the Nuggets), and the Rockets also won their most recent head-to-head meeting against both of those teams.
The Spurs will have an opportunity at redemption on Wednesday night.
More: ‘Gutsy effort’: In win at Detroit, Rockets find attention to detail