Houston Rockets Lift-Off, Destination: History

Houston Rockets Lift-Off, Destination: History

The Houston Rockets have cleared the launching pad, shocking the NBA world and have matched the fourth-longest victory streak in league history by winning 18 straight games.

The Rockets own the league’s longest win streak since the Los Angeles Lakers won 19 in a row in the 1999-2000 season. They have become only the seventh team in history to win 18 or more consecutive games—five of the previous six won the NBA championship.

The streak is especially impressive given that the last six wins have come after star 7'6'' center Yao Ming suffered a season-ending foot injury, a development that many said would cause the Rockets to fail, ending its mission.

The Rockets have the third-best record in the Western conference at 42-20. Only the Lakers and San Antonio Spurs are ahead of Houston.

The Rockets, who have not lost since a 97-89 home defeat against the Utah Jazz on Jan. 27, have been fueled by astronomical play from Tracy McGrady.

McGrady scored 41 points Saturday night in a 106-96 victory over the New Orleans Hornets in Houston's latest outing. Prior to the win, the Rockets had lost eight of their last 11 to the Hornets. McGrady is averaging 26.6 points and 6.4 assists in the last eight games.

Houston has now won their last eight games by a double-digit margin - winning by a 17.2 point average in that span. The Rockets have won 27 of their last 30 games, the best record in the NBA since the start of 2008.

Houston’s next three games come against sub-.500 Eastern Conference teams—New Jersey Nets, Atlanta Hawks and Charlotte. Undoubtedly, NBA odds will favor the Rockets in those contests.

If the Rockets shoot down the next three clubs, it would give them the second-best winning streak in NBA history at 21, surpassing the 1970-71 Milwaukee Bucks, who won 20 in a row.

The win streak could easily reach 21 heading into next Sunday’s showdown with the Lakers, who won 33 consecutive games from Nov. 5, 1971-Jan. 7, 1972, which is the longest win streak in league history.

If the Rockets are to extent its journey towards history, they must first knock off the Nets on Monday at the Toyota Center in Houston. The Rockets have won three straight and six of the last seven in the series. McGrady and company are a sharp 23-9 at home, winning their last 12 in front of the home folks.

Houston has won three straight and six of the last seven in the series against the Nets, who haven’t won in March, dropping their first five games by an average of 11.8 points. New Jersey is 26-37 and 11-20 on the road.

A win would make Houston only the fourth team in NBA history to win 19 consecutive games, as they head to Atlanta on Wednesday before returning home to play Charlotte on Friday