Last week, the Rockets were in the former position. Houston was on a three game losing streak, and they had just blown an eight point lead in the final two minutes to be defeated by the rival Mavericks for the second time in a span of a couple of weeks.
Houston seemed to be in danger of letting the season spiral out of control as they had just passed through a relative break in the level of competition and had struggled tremendously and were now set to face high quality Western Conference opponents.
The week, however, turned out to be a pleasant surprise for Houston as it began with a good win against the Portland Trailblazers.