Houston Rockets forward Tari Eason is one of the NBA's best wing defenders, a long-armed menace who racks up steals and blocks with regularity. Eason employed a dose of free-throw defense with his trash talk in Wednesday's 109-108 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers.

As of Sunday night, the Rockets are sixth in the league in net rating at +6.1. Their defense is third in the league with a defensive rating of 107.3. But the offense has now crept all the way up to eleventh league-wide with an offensive rating of 113.4. Houston is inching closer to having both a top 10 defense and offense.

Houston has had two full days off since beating the NBA-best Cavaliers Wednesday, and the two teams will again face off tonight at 6:30 p.m. CT. The Rockets nar

Alperen Sengun made two free throws with 4.5 seconds left and Darius Garland missed two of three free throws after that to allow the Houston Rockets to hold on for a 109-108 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday night.

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The Cavaliers stormed back to tie the game at 107 with just seconds remaining and had a chance to tie or win the game on the final possession with the Rockets leading 109-107. Bizarrely, Rockets forward Tari Eason fouled Darius Garland on a 3-point attempt, giving the Cavaliers sharpshooter a chance to tie or win the game at the line.

Amen Thompson had his second career triple-double, Alperin Sengun and Jalen Green scored 26 points apiece and the Houston Rockets beat the Eastern Conference-leading Cleveland Cavaliers 135-131 on Saturday night.

The Houston Rockets' identity starts with their defense. They're known as a team that wins using physical defense to slow down opposing scoring attacks. However

The Cavaliers appeared to secure the upper hand when Darius Garland was fouled on a 3-pointer with 2.8 seconds left, with Tari Eason charged ... again at the buzzer. Cleveland dropped to 3-3 ...

Wembanyama becomes only the fourth Spurs player to make the All-Star Game in his first or second season. The others: Alvin Robertson in 1986, David Robinson in 1990 and 1991, and Tim Duncan in 1998.

Young Houston Rockets teammates Amen Thompson and Reed Sheppard are on different Rising Stars teams for All-Star weekend and embracing their new "rivalry."

Jabari Smith Jr. #10 of the Houston Rockets and Kris Dunn #11 of the Utah ... [+] Jazz are separated on the court in the first half at Toyota Center on