Dave Hardisty

And relative to the start of the month, look, this is a Dallas team that they lost to twice, once in early December, once in early January.

They beat Atlanta the other night on night two of a road back-to-back.

They're now 3-0 on night two of back-to-backs in January after going 0-3 in December.

And

This is what you have to do over 82 games.

There's going to be stretches of the season when you're not at your best.

You have to be able to grind it out.

And so I do view that as a positive this month.

I think they're playing hard on a much more consistent basis.

Like, they're not having the lapses we saw them have against the Kings, the Pelicans, the Trailblazers.

It felt like pretty much from the start of December until January 10th.

So...

In some ways, it's fitting that the Rockets close out January with the types of wins they weren't getting for about a six week stretch.

And maybe it's all the more appropriate that, you know, Jabari Smith Jr.

is the guy who went through his slump when the Rockets truly bottomed out.

And now he picks it back up.

And what do you know, the Rockets are able to grind out these wins in a way that a few weeks ago they were taking losses.

And I think there's a lot of value in that Amin, because of his style of play, his personality, he might have the highest floor of all of your young guys.

Like we talk about ceilings a lot, and there's certainly an argument to be made that he might have the highest ceiling as well if he ever develops a jumper.

But I think what we've seen at times this season is all of your other young guys, and it's nothing to panic over.