After starting the season 3-7 the playoff chances for the Houston Rockets were not looking good, but since then the Rockets have gone 13-4 and are positioning themselves for a playoff birth.

According to ESPN's John Hollinger, and his computer system that projects the regular season and the post season 5,000 times, the Rockets have an 82.7 percent chance of making the playoffs.

As of now the Rockets are a No. 5 seed but the are only a half-game behind the Dallas Mavericks and only 2.5 games behind the Southwest division leading San Antonio Spurs. Other projections have the Rockets have a 7.3 chance of winning the division, 1.3 percent chance of being the West's No. 1 seed, 5.8 percent chance of making the NBA Finals and 1.6 percent chance of winning the NBA Finals.

The West race is tight as the difference between No. 2 seed and missing the playoffs is only four games and the Rockets are two games out of the No. 2 seed and also two games from missing out of the playoffs.