Five straight wins have a way of bumping your status in the eyes of the public. Lo and behold, your Houston Rockets, back in mediocrities good graces in the eyes of the public. They face their first big test tonight with the Miami Heat in town, and here are what our power rankers think of them at this point:
Pro Basketball Talk: 15 (LW: 17)
Four straight wins. All against pretty soft competition but the fact is they are beating the teams they are supposed to.
ESPN: 14 (18)
All-Star long shots with sick stats? Make room in your club, Kevin Love and Monta Ellis, for Kevin Martin, whom Elias says is on pace to become the first player to lead the league in total FTs and 3s made in a season. Ever.
Hollinger 11 (9)
The average of those three, which last week was 14.6, is now 13.3. The Hollinger system’s number actually went down as the Rockets played weaker competition, but the Rockets went up by winning in the eyes of the human raters.
SB Nation’s own poll separates teams into Eastern and Western Conferences, so I can’t count it against these other three all-NBA polls, but the Rockets have moved up to ninth after last week, they were tenth the week before.