Updated Feb. 20, 2026, 12:00 p.m. CT

Between an inactive trade deadline and a controversy over alleged social media “burner” comments (possibly by Kevin Durant), the Houston Rockets haven’t had ideal publicity over the past two weeks.

Yet, on the floor, the results are showing clear signs of improvement.

Thursday’s victory at Charlotte, coupled with Denver’s loss later that night to the Los Angeles Clippers, launched Houston (34-20) into the No. 3 spot in the Western Conference standings.

Dating back to Jan. 16, the Rockets are 11-5 (.688) in their last 16 games. Among West rivals, only the second-seeded Spurs (11-3, .786) have been better over that span, and one of those three losses was to Houston.

Better yet, for the remainder of the 2025-26 regular season, Houston currently projects to have the weakest remaining schedule among the West’s top eight teams.

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That’s the good news for the Rockets. The bad news is that their margin of error remains quite small.

Though they have climbed to No. 3, the Rockets remain 4.5 games back of San Antonio (39-16) for the No. 2 spot, and three teams — the No. 4 Nuggets (35-21), the No. 5 Los Angeles Lakers (33-21), and No. 6 Minnesota Timberwolves (34-22) — are hot on Houston’s heels.

In other words, climbing higher than No. 3 is a heavy lift, and it wouldn’t take much for the Rockets to fall back to between No. 4 and No. 6.

But regardless, the Rockets are playing much better basketball, and that’s welcome news after a stretch from Dec. 1 through Jan. 15 in which Houston went just 10-11 (.476). Dating back to Dec. 15, Friday is only the third day in which the Rockets have woken up in the West’s top three.

Down the road, a top-three finish in the regular season could be critical, since that will likely be on the opposite side of the 2026 playoff bracket from the defending NBA champion Oklahoma City Thunder (who, at 42-14, continue to rank atop the West).

Led by Durant, a perennial All-Star, the Rockets will look to build on their recent momentum when they travel to New York’s famed Madison Square Garden on Saturday night. Tipoff versus the Knicks (35-21) is at 7:30 p.m. Central, and the game will be broadcast to a national audience on ABC.

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