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.

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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.

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

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 Cavs have dropped two consecutive games for only the second time this season as they look to rebound Saturday night against the Houston Rockets.

The Rockets hit two free throws late while the Cavaliers missed two free throws seconds later, allowing Houston to hold off Cleveland .

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 ...

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

Strong options off the bench an essential piece for any contending team during the taxing 82-game season and the intense postseason that follows. A good bench can help pick up the slack if a star player is having an off night, or if the team is dealing with injury woes.

Houston plans on sticking with their current crop of homegrown talent and impactful veterans to make a push in the postseason this year. The team can see which of its young players shines brightest in meaningful moments.