Friday night's matchup with the Orlando Magic begins the unofficial start to the second half of the season for the Rockets. They enter the game on a seven-game losing streak, at 15-43, and dead last in the Western Conference. They have the third-worst record in basketball behind the Orlando Magic (13-47) and Detroit Pistons (14-45). In the team's first full season of rebuilding following the James Harden era, the Rockets are hovering right around where anyone would have expected.
The Rockets have the 27th-ranked offense (107.1) and the 30th-ranked defense (116.4). The latter is even less surprising than the former given the collective age of the team's core players.