10月底的火箭是NBA最强球队吗？圆桌讨论

Considering whether the Houston Rockets are the best team in the NBA as the month of October comes to a close.

The Houston Rockets have had a very impressive start to the 2026 season as they currently sit at 5-0 and are one of three undefeated teams in the entire NBA, with the other two teams being the Memphis Grizzlies, who are 4-0, and the Portland Trail Blazers, who are 3-0.

When it comes down to it,  where a team sits in October is not usually indicative of where they will be in April when the playoffs begin as there will be injuries that occur, players who get injured, and players who simply have struggles.

Based on that, it is safe to assume that Houston will look different in a few months than it does now, but even so, there is one question that comes up based on the strong start. Are the Rockets the best team in the NBA as October comes to a close?

When starting to answer this question, it is important to note that record is not everything when considering the best teams in the NBA at this point in the season, but the Rockets do have the best record in the league at this point in time, and as mentioned they are one of five undefeated teams.

Now, one aspect to look to when considering how good teams are at this point is point differential, so let's take a look at how the Rockets have performed thus far when it comes to point differential.

So far this season, the Rockets are averaging a point differential of 14.2 points per game, which ranks No. 3 in the entire league and is only behind the Toronto Raptors, who have a point differential of 15.0, which ranks them No. 2, and the Trailblazers, who sit at No. 1 with a point differential of 18.6.

All that to say, it is clear that the Rockets have been able to win multiple games with a commanding margin as they have three double-digit wins with the biggest margin coming from their recent win over the Milwaukee Bucks as Houston came out on top 132-100.

Moving on from point differential, the Rockets also have had several great performances from individual players in the form of guards Amen Thompson and Fred VanVleet, forwards Kevin Durant, Tari Eason, and Jabari Smith Jr., and center Alperen Sengun, which shows Houston's firepower across the board, not to mention the solid depth they have.

With that said, I do believe that the Rockets are the best team in the NBA as October comes to an end because they have shown the ability to win in dominant fashion, win tight games, and have different players shine in different areas, which demonstrates that this team has been able to have success in a variety of ways over the first month of the 2026 season.

So, as the Rockets finish off October and head into November, they do appear to be a top-notch contender and if they can keep this up moving forward, it is very possible they could have one of their best seasons yet under head coach Ime Udoka.

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