Rockets rise to No. 3 in West standings, now 11-5 in last month — and more

Between an inactive trade deadline and a controversy over alleged social media “burner” comments (possibly by Kevin Durant), the Houston Rockets haven’t had ideal publicity over the past two weeks.

Yet, on the floor, the results are showing clear signs of improvement.

Thursday’s victory at Charlotte, coupled with Denver’s loss later that night to the Los Angeles Clippers, launched Houston (34-20) into the No. 3 spot in the Western Conference standings.

Dating back to Jan. 16, the Rockets are 11-5 (.688) in their last 16 games. Among West rivals, only the second-seeded Spurs (11-3, .786) have been better over that span, and one of those three losses was to Houston.

Unfortunately for the Rockets, their margin of error remains quite small. Though they have climbed to No. 3, they remain 4.5 games back of San Antonio (39-16) for the No. 2 spot, and three teams — the No. 4 Nuggets (35-21), the No. 5 Los Angeles Lakers (33-21), and No. 6 Minnesota Timberwolves (34-22) — are hot on Houston’s heels.

In other words, climbing higher than No. 3 is a heavy lift, and it wouldn’t take much for the Rockets to fall back to anywhere between No. 4 and No. 6.

NBA STANDINGS UPDATE ‼️

▪️ DET (#1 in East) wins 4th straight
▪️ SAS (#2 in West) wins 7th straight
▪️ HOU rises to #3 in West
▪️ CLE (#4 in East) wins 6th straight
▪️ ATL rises to #9 in East
▪️ LAC rises to #9 in West

Download the NBA App for more: https://t.co/pBKIAWNToapic.twitter.com/91G2OgAd8P

— NBA (@NBA) February 20, 2026

But regardless, the Rockets are playing much better basketball, and that’s welcome news after a stretch from Dec. 1 through Jan. 15 in which Houston went just 10-11 (.476). Dating back to Dec. 15, Friday is only the third day in which the Rockets have woken up in the West’s top three.

Down the road, a top-three finish in the regular season could be critical, since that will likely be on the opposite side of the 2026 playoff bracket from the defending NBA champion Oklahoma City Thunder (who, at 42-14, continue to rank atop the West).

Led by Durant, a perennial All-Star, the Rockets will look to build on their recent momentum when they travel to New York’s famed Madison Square Garden on Saturday night. Tipoff versus the Knicks (35-21) is at 7:30 p.m. Central, and the game will be broadcast to a national audience on ABC.

More: With 35 points, Kevin Durant burns Hornets as Rockets improve to 34-20

This article originally appeared on Rockets Wire: Rockets rise to No. 3 in West standings, now 11-5 in last month

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The health and projection of quarterback Michael Penix Jr. is the most pivotal factor in the Atlanta Falcons' future. Selected by Atlanta with the No. 8 pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, Penix has started just 12 games over his first two seasons due to a combination of being behind veteran Kirk Cousins for the majority of 2024 and partially tearing his ACL in November of last season. Where is the soon-to-be third-year quarterback in his recovery? New Falcons president of football and franchise royalty Matt Ryan pulled back the curtain on the matter. "I have had the opportunity to sit with Michael and, you know, No. 1, how do we bring him along? You get healthy first. The first thing you've got to do is get yourself in a place where we can practice and do that. So, job No. 1 for Michael is to keep doing exactly what he's doing. He's been in our building doing his rehab. He's in a good place right now," Ryan said about Penix in an interview on SiriusXM NFL Radio on Thursday. "As a former player, like, it never leaves me. Everybody's like, 'When is he going to be back?' Well, you don't know. There's ups and downs that come with that rehab space, but we feel like we're on track and in a good space with Michael right now." As for what's to come, Ryan is bullish on Penix, especially with the coaching staff that Atlanta has put around him. "To me, it always comes down to the fundamentals. Do we start with our feet? I know in that interview process, [quarterbacks coach] Alex [Van Pelt] is going to hammer the footwork and going to hammer getting the basics right. So, it starts with the basics. Michael does a great job," Ryan said. "He can spin the football. We're excited about what he does, and we're excited about the staff we're putting around him." Across the nine games that he appeared in last season, Penix totaled 1,982 passing yards, nine passing touchdowns, three interceptions and an 88.5 passer rating, while completing 60.1% of his passes. The year prior (three starts and five appearances altogether), Penix posted a 78.9 passer rating and completed 58.1% of his passes. In college, Penix spent the first four seasons of his career at Indiana (2018-21) before transferring to Washington and shining. Across his two seasons with the Huskies (2022-23), Penix averaged 4,772 passing yards, 33.5 passing touchdowns, 9.5 interceptions and a 154.2 passer rating per season, while completing 65.4% of his passes. In 2023, Penix led Washington to a Pac-12 title, an appearance in the College Football Playoff National Championship and was the runner-up for the 2023 Heisman Trophy Award. Regarding the coaching staff around Penix, Van Pelt comes to Atlanta after being a senior offensive assistant for the Los Angeles Rams last season and offensive coordinator stints with the New England Patriots (2024), Cleveland Browns (2020-23) and Buffalo Bills (2009), among many other offensive assistant roles. Of course, Van Pelt is the quarterbacks coach for new Falcons head coach Kevin Stefanski, who was previously the head coach of the Browns from 2020-25; Van Pelt coached under Stefanski in Cleveland from 2020-23. Stefanski's offensive coordinator is Tommy Rees, who was the Browns' offensive coordinator under Stefanski last season and coached in Cleveland from 2024-25. Rees had previous offensive coordinator stints at Alabama (2023) and Notre Dame (2020-22).