Is it the light or dissapointment at the end of the tunnel?

Let me start off by saying this, a 19 game winning streak defines a team that is fearless, a team that goes after every loose ball, a team that has learned to play team basketball and most importantly team defense. There is something brewing down in Texas and it has nothing to with San Antonio or Dallas. The Houston Rockets are pulling off something only four other teams have done in NBA history. They are not simply winning,they are blowing away the competition. If the nations eye brow was'nt raised before, it is now. I would have to admit that win they got to ten wins I was'nt convinced because I've seen mediocre team do this before. Then they got to twelve wins and my head began to slowly turn toward Houston. Yao goes down, and then I, like the rest of the country, said nice winning streak, better luck next year. As the country turns its attention back to the Celtics and seven other good teams in the NBA, Rafer Alston screams back and leads Houston to seven straight.
Now as inspiring as this is, it got me thinking. How did this happen in a western conference where nearly every team seems to be out for blood? The obvious answer is that their team defense has stepped up significantly in the absence of Yao, but there is more to it than that. Looking back, the majority of the wins that the Rockets put together have come at home and thats given them an huge advantage. Thats only half the battle because of the 19 teams that have fallen, only eight of them have had winning records. You can make that argument that while the streak has been undeniably impressive, only beating eight winning teams can't bode well for the play-offs. But their is two sides to every story. The Rockets have blasted themsleves to the third best record in the west which means they are setting themselves up for one of the top four seeds. So lets say they get one of these top seeds. T-Mac will have breathed a sigh of relief because then they definitely have a great chance of atleast getting out of the first round.
In a perfect world the Rockets will continue to bring down the house and storm into the play-offs to make a statement. But the reality is they've got a brutal scedule coming up and the only way to get one of those precious top seeds is to atleast come out of that stretch over 500. And if anything is true it is that the streak is alive and well, but Houston is well aware they are just one losing streak away from having to cool those jet engines.