The Houston Rockets face the Atlanta Hawks tonight in a sneaky important game for the team from H-Town. The Rockets, who sit at 16-16 overall right now, were great on Christmas day, handling one of, if not the best, teams in the NBA in the San Antonio Spurs one of only six losses in their season thus far. If Houston wants to remain relevant, they must at least finish at .500 through their next 8 games, which includes two games against the Jazz, and one against the Spurs, Warriors, Hawks(tonight), Pacers, and Grizzlies. That’s about as tough of a stretch as you are going to go through in the NBA. Depending on what defense shows up for Houston, this stretch could very well make or break the team’s season. I could see the Rockets finishing this stretch 2-6 or worse easily, but I could also see them on the other end of the spectrum around 6-2. All of this depends on whether the defense from last season, which has shown up sporadically this year, and was at its best against the Spurs a few days ago, makes an appearance and helps Houston set a tone which could lead to a revival of their season.
