The Houston Rockets have played in relative anonymity for the first half of the season with moderate expectations that have been exceeded thus far. At 20-14, the Rockets are tied with the Los Angeles Lakers for 5th in the Western Conference, but lose the tie-break due to the 108-99 loss to the Lakers back in January. The Rockets are in a good position to let their young talent continue to flourish, while trying to make a push towards making a playoff run in May.
One question that has been asked is, can the Rockets make a trade to improve the team? Kevin Martin's name has come up in rumors, but nothing has come from it as of yet. Its scary to think that this team could have had Pau Gasol on it if things broke a little differently. However, at this point Kevin McHale is sitting pretty and general manager Daryl Morey might have one more move left in him to improve the squad, and that's all a Rockets fan can ask for.
Here are the western conference standings going into the second half of the season.
For more on the Rockets, head over to The Dream Shake.