NBA Power Rankings Week 20: What history will Milwaukee Bucks make?

Last week: Beat New York 123-112, beat Memphis 140-112, won at Boston 111-110 (OT)

This week: Monday at New York, Thursday vs. Clippers, Saturday at Charlotte

With six consecutive victories and 10 wins in their last 12 games, the Houston Rockets have soared to within a game of the second-place LA Clippers and the third-place Denver Nuggets in the Western Conference, with a Thursday showdown at home against the Clippers looming.

Houston survived a potential gut-punch at Boston on Saturday night when Jaylen Brown‘s 3-pointer tied the game with a second remaining in regulation. James Harden hit a pair of free throws with 24.3 seconds left in overtime to give the Rockets the lead and they got the victory when Brown’s pull-up jumper with 3.5 ticks to go was off the mark.

Those were Harden’s second and third foul shots of the game, the second-fewest he’s taken in a game this season. Harden had 37 points with nine assists, six rebounds and two steals in Monday’s win over the Knicks and averaged 29.3 points, 6.7 dimes, 5.7 boards and 2.0 steals in 34.3 minutes a game, shooting 46.2 percent overall and 37.5 percent on 13.3 deep balls per game.

Last week: Beat Minnesota 128-116, beat Detroit 115-98, lost at Clippers 132-103

This week: Sunday vs. Toronto, Tuesday vs. Golden State, Thursday at Charlotte, Saturday at Cleveland

The Denver Nuggets had shaken off consecutive losses with wins at home over the Timberwolves and Pistons but undid a lot of that work by getting blasted Friday night on the road by the Clippers, a loss that prompted coach Mike Malone to call the team out as “soft” while they also surrendered their grip on sole possession of second place in the Western Conference.

The teams have split the first two of their three meetings this season, with the tiebreaker to be decided when LA visits the Nuggets on March 18. For now, Denver has fallen to third in the Western standings with a 14-8 record in conference play, two games worse than the Clippers’ 16-6 mark.

Nikola Jokic is still sizzling, even with the rough performance at LA, averaging 20.3 points, 7.0 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 2.3 steals in 28.0 minutes per game over three games last week. He shot 71.4 percent overall while going 1-for-4 from deep. Jokic went for 24 points, seven rebounds, six assists, two steals and two blocks in 31 minutes in Sunday’s win over the Wolves.