NBA writer says the quiet part out loud about the Rockets as NBA schedule heats up

As the Houston Rockets have settled into a 15-6 record and the fourth seed in the Western Conference, few would deny that they are among the upper echelon of teams in the NBA, having found their footing on both offense and defense through the first quarter of the season.

Yet, with some rough losses under their belt (especially against the Utah Jazz and the Dallas Mavericks), The Athletic's Zach Harper issued a poignant reminder in his quarter-season grades for the Western Conference.

The Rockets received an A, placing them below the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Los Angeles Lakers but in league with teams like the Denver Nuggets and the San Antonio Spurs. Therefore, while a pair of NBA Cup losses and a couple of dropped games to non-contending teams have limited their place in the standings relative to where they could be, it's important to remember just how promising this team looks at this point in the season.

The Rockets are still one of the best teams in the NBA, even if they need to clean up their act

While, given the advanced statistics that surround Houston's stellar start to the season, almost no one would disagree with the statement above, things can get skewed if you take a closer look at the results of their schedule to this point.

So far, they have yet to beat a team that is a top-five seed in the Western Conference, having narrowly lost to the Oklahoma City Thunder, the Denver Nuggets and the San Antonio Spurs (they have yet to play the Lakers).

Moreover, in the past week and a half, Houston has dropped relatively winnable games to the Jazz and the Mavericks. Granted, Steven Adams did not play in either of these games, but, apart from his absence, the Rockets' issues with turnovers and periodical stagnancy on offense were truly to blame for the team dropping those two games.

This is not to say this a team without flaws. Through their first 21 games, they are dead last in the NBA in 3-point attempts and 24th in turnovers per game.

Yet, these are issues that, hopefully, will be ironed out over the course of the season as the team continues to find its footing (although that task will be made more difficult by the absence of Fred VanVleet).

Therefore, just as Harper did, Rockets fans must be willing to write off these losses as abberations in the schedule. Houston will face off against the Nuggets again twice over the next two weeks, and those games will represent the true test of where the team is stationed at this point in the season.