(Photo credit: Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images)

Following their second blowout loss in four days, the Houston Rockets hardly resemble Western Conference contenders despite being tied for the third seed behind a pair of league juggernauts.

After surrendering a season-high 145 points on the road to the San Antonio Spurs on Sunday, the Rockets were blitzed by the Denver Nuggets in a 36-point loss on Wednesday. Houston will open a five-game homestand against the New Orleans Pelicans on Friday, squarely in the mix for third in the West with the Los Angeles Lakers, Minnesota Timberwolves and the Nuggets.

The Rockets haven't passed the eye test of late. Denver hung 129 points on the Rockets, the third-highest point total Houston has surrendered this season. Defensively, the Rockets are tied for seventh in the NBA in defensive efficiency, but have sustained regression on that end of the court.

Offensively, Houston ranks 11th, but the wild swings in performance have become noteworthy. The Rockets are among the worst teams in the league in turnover percentage (28th) and their offensive rebounding has collapsed since the mid-January loss of reserve center Steven Adams to season-ending ankle surgery.

Combine poor ball security and pedestrian rebounding with the poor shooting the Rockets endured in Denver, and the results are often cataclysmic.

The Rockets missed 29 of 33 3-pointers and made just 5 of 14 free throws. A six-point halftime deficit ballooned in the third quarter when the Rockets were outscored 40-22, with their spirit sapped by a succession of missed shots that compromised their defensive intensity.

Opponents have clamped down on Kevin Durant, the Rockets' leading scorer, and dared his teammates to convert open looks. That strategy has proven to be effective more often than not.

'At this point of the season, we do need to be able to exploit double teams and hit some blitzes on Kevin,' Rockets coach Ime Udoka said. 'And I think we did that for the most part. If you don't turn it over and you get quality shots, whether it's at the rim or 3-pointers, you kind of have to live with those. When the shots didn't go...I think we started to hang our heads a little bit.'

Said Durant, who had a season-low-tying 11 points in 26 minutes: 'Our offense was clicking outside of making wide-open shots. We generated good looks. It's a make-or-miss league.'

The Pelicans improved to 7-4 since the All-Star break with their 122-111 victory over the Toronto Raptors on Wednesday. Dejounte Murray delivered a stellar performance with 27 points, five rebounds, six assists, and two steals in what was his seventh game of an injury-plagued year.

Murray has not only infused the Pelicans' rotation with an accomplished veteran since his return from an Achilles injury, but also provided a measure of leadership that his younger teammates can rally around.

'We're trying to build winning habits,' Murray said. 'We're not the No. 1 team in the West. We're not a contender in the West, but what we can do is build winning habits and momentum going into the offseason.

' ... You've got to start somewhere. ... There's nothing like building momentum going into the offseason.'

--Field Level Media