The Houston Rockets travel to Georgia to face the Atlanta Hawks at State Farm Arena on Monday.

The Rockets (8-18) looked to be in for a long season when they started with 16 losses through their first 17 games, but they've been one of the best teams in the NBA since then. In fact, they are the first team in any of the big-four professional starts to follow up a 16-game losing streak with a seven-game winning streak. That's a truly bizarre thing to happen, and it's hard to know which run was more flukey. In any case, the Rockets have been playing much more competitively recently but enter this matchup losing their last two games. Fans are hopeful it's not the start of another lengthy losing streak because that could end the season altogether.

The Hawks (13-13) come into this matchup losing four of their last six games, which followed up a season-best seven-game winning streak. The direct correlation between the wins and losses is the competition. Atlanta has beat every team they're supposed to but have really struggled when facing a formidable opponent. It's certainly no fault of Trae Young, though, leading this team with 26.5 points and 9.5 assists per game. Those are obviously some of the best marks in the NBA, and it's huge for him to play so well with Bogdan Bogdanovic and De'Andre Hunter both getting injured. Those two wings were excellent for this club last season, and they'll need Trae to keep rolling like this to stay competitive in a dangerous Eastern Conference.

Atlanta swept the two-game season series over Houston last year, winning both by double-digit margins. Before that, the Rockets won six straight, which followed up a seven-game winning streak by the Hawks.