The Rockets put the brakes on Tuesday night to stop their losing streak at four games with a 117-111 come from behind effort, led by James Harden's 37 points.
The Rockets improved to 40-24 on the season, but plenty of work remains with the regular season winding down.
Following their latest loss, a blowout at the hands of the Magic on Sunday, Rockets head coach Mike D'Antoni said his team needed a spark and had to get their swagger back.
With less than 20 games remaining in the regular season and the Rockets slipping down to the sixth seed during their skid, it is concerning but it's not grave at this point.
These Rockets have been here before. Ok, maybe not "these" Rockets, but a few of them and certainly D'Antoni has experienced the ups and downs with this organization.
At the beginning of last season, when the Rockets began the season having dropped five of their first six games, D'Antoni made similar comments about his team's lack of "swagger" and didn't have a whole lot of answers then either.
In fact, here's the quote from D'Antoni back in October of 2018.
"Right now we're playing like crap. We're just not playing well. You know, I don't have a whole lot of answers for you now. We'll look, and we'll fight it," D'Antoni said.
The Rockets went on to win 8 of their next 10 games, including a five game win streak during that stretch. Thereafter, the Rockets went on to lose four straight. I don't need to recount the rest of the season, as they say, the rest is history.
While "these" Rockets" may not have been through the tumultuous times last season's squad went through, the additions of guys like Russell Westbrook, Robert Covington, Ben McLemore, Jeff Green, Thabo Sefolosha and DeMarre Carroll have all been through rough patches in a given season.
Whether that has happened with Houston or elsewhere, all of those guys understand every team goes through "hell" as D'Antoni put it on Sunday.
Thus, while it's not early in the season anymore, and there is a battle of playoff seeding to contend with now, the Rockets still have time. Not exactly a lot of it, but they have time to put things together and get as healthy as possible to make the noise they'd like to make in the postseason.
"We have our formula. We know what we have to do. How we have to play. We just have to do it all the time. And we have to stay true to it," D'Antoni said after Tuesday's win over Minnesota.
James Harden is of course a key component of that formula, and he along with Russell Westbrook provided the spark and swagger the Rockets had lost during the recent four-game losing streak.
Harden finished Tuesday's game with 37 points on 11-of-19 shooting, including 5-of-10 from beyond the arc, easily his most efficient game since the Rockets' victory over the Grizzlies back in late February.
As for Westbrook, he provided the energy the Rockets had been missing of late, with an efficient 11-of-17 night from the floor to finish with 27 points, seven assists and six rebounds.
Westbrook said a big difference in the Rockets' approach Tuesday was all mental.
"Mentality. All about mindset. When our minds are in the right place we play well."
Even with the win, Houston had to come from behind after another slow start. The effort, generated by hustle and the second and third efforts D'Antoni so often talks about and just flat out good defense in the second half was the key.
It might have given them a glimpse at the light at the end of the tunnel.
"That's how we were winning games before (defense)," D'Antoni said. "We went from 15th defensively, we were roaming around sixth or seventh when we won those six games in a row, but we've got to get back there. That's smarts, second efforts third efforts and whatever it takes."
A win over the lowly Timberwolves may not be the cure to all that ails the Rockets right now, as getting more consistent health and play out of Eric Gordon, who put together one of his best games of late Tuesday night, along with the teams consistency has to improve.
Related: Gordon Returns In Rockets Win Over Wolves
Tuesday was a step in the right direction, however big or small that step might be for D'Antoni and the Rockets.
"We got a little desperate and played harder and played with a little bit more purpose, and then you know we made big shots that we haven't been making. Eric Gordon contributed, Austin hit big shots, James hit big shots obviously. That's how we've got to play," D'Antoni said. "I told you hopefully last game we hit rock bottom. I can see it from where we are. We advanced a little bit, but I look down and I can still see the rock bottom, but hopefully we're a little bit better and then obviously we've got a great test coming up Thursday."
UP NEXT: Rockets at Lakers - Thursday 9:30 p.m. CT tip off.
