Talent wise it's the Dallas that had the edge, Rockets are just lucky to have a winning streak and still close with the Warriors in replacing them int he 10. But although the Rockets have improve, we cannot deny that the Dallas have been playing their best season so far, so a lose to this hot team is not surprising. In fact, I still think that they will not past first round in case they'll make it to the playoffs, who would they play? The Nuggets? They can't beat the defending champ, but they will lucky if they'll face the OKC as they are also a young team.
Let me remind you that the Rockets were total underdogs in previous seasons. Maybe the Rockets' recent winning streak was just luck, but I think it's fair to say that this team is gradually progressing. Even if the Rockets can't dislodge the Warriors from the 10th spot in the standings, it will still be a good result for them compared to what they had the last three seasons.
Yeah, this season they acquire Fred VanFleet from the Raptors and then gave him a huge contract which I think is fair as he is giving them them good numbers, same with the acquisition of Dillon Brooks, and then later Ime Udoka.
So they are slowly improving post-Harden era. So it's a win-win for them as we have been discussing, if ever they didn't win the play-in, they will surely come back next year and improve and probably improved their standing. Similar to the Sacramento Kings growth in the last 2 seasons.