The Rockets' win over the Suns is particularly sweet for multiple reasons

The Houston Rockets are on a winning streak!

Fine - it's two in a row. Yes, the Suns were missing Devin Booker in Wednesday's action. Still, seeing this team return to their winning ways is nice. The Rockets pulled out a 119-111 victory over the Suns in their last game in thrilling fashion.

This is the NBA. Every win counts. It feels like the Rockets had the second seed in the Western Conference yesterday, but they slipped as far as fifth during a recent six-game skid. With this victory, they secured a solid one-game hold on the fourth seed.

They needed everything in their arsenal to do it.

Rockets' young core shines in win

To be specific, Amen Thompson gave them everything he had. The sophomore guard/wing/freak of nature finished with 18 points, 11 rebounds, and 10 assists for his fourth career triple-double.

Otherwise, Alperen Sengun was steady with 17 points, 13 rebounds and 5 assists. Jalen Green was not his most efficient self - he had 22 points on 8/21 shooting, including a painful 4/15 mark from long-range. That said, a flurry of points from him down the stretch helped secure the win.

It's hard to overstate how badly the Rockets need this one. They head into a game with the Warriors on the tail end of a back-to-back tonight. It's a winnable game, but the odds are against them. Starting a back-to-back with a loss could have proven disastrous.

That's not the only reason the stakes were high in this game.

Rockets always need to beat the Suns

After this loss, the Suns are 26-28. They're 11th in the Western Conference. If they owned their pick, they may start tanking.

Que evil laughter here.

By now, you're surely familiar with the situation. The Rockets own this pick. How they use it is anybody's guess.

There's no shortage of speculation that they'll trade it for Durant. He must have tempted them last night. Durant finished with 37 points on 15/22 shooting from the field. The Rockets threw everything but the kitchen sink at him, covering him in various ways, and Durant still prevailed.

Sure, that defensive attention would eventually pay dividends. Imagine how potent some of the Rockets would look with Durant drawing that attention.

Alternatively, the Suns were certainly missing Booker - a tacit endorsement in its own right. The Rockets could also let the Suns continue to drown and reap potential lottery picks from them for years to come. Either way, beating them is always critical to Houston's mission, but more broadly, the Rockets are a win-now team:

They need to string together as many wins as they can.