Actually, Houston has won 30 of their last 31 games when they hit triple digits. In fact, since the 2004-05 season when the Yao Ming-Tracy McGrady era began, the Rockets are 110-17 when they score 100 points or more.

It gets much better when Yao and T-Mac actually play.

When the star duo is active, the Rockets have won 39 straight 100+ point games, a streak that dates back to March of 2006. They are 49-1 since the Rockets-Mavs playoff series of the 2004-05 season. Their lone loss in the last 3 and a half years was a 106-101 home loss to the Sixers (Allen Iverson popped off for 40).

How infrequently the team reaches 100 points in a game is a testament to all the things the Rockets have been -- a poor-to-average offensive team that plays great defense and one that has been plagued by injuries to their stars.

But more recently, the Rockets are hitting the magic number more often.

What's Gone Right
The Rockets offense looked heavily sedated out of the gate this season. Houston hit 100+ in just one of the first 10 games and was in the bottom 3 in field goal percentage, surrounded by pre-destined lottery teams. Yao was well under 50%, T-Mac well under 40%, Ron Artest was aiming for sub-30% and Rafer Alston was ... well, he finally fit in.

In the 17 games since then, the Rockets have scored 100 or more 11 times.

So what's changed?

• Yao stepping up big
  There were nights early in the season where Dikembe Mutombo couldn't sign soon enough. Yao Ming not only looked ineffective but appeared more like a liability. You're not seeing that now. Yao's numbers in December are superstar-level: 24.2 points on 61.5% shooting and 10.1 boards.
• T-Mac's improved shot
  Pop in tape from his first year with the Rockets and it's not hard to see how Tracy McGrady has declined. Injuries have taken their toll as the same explosion just isn't quite there. Still, McGrady has found new ways to be very effective -- he's having career-best years in three-point percentage (42.9%) and free throw percentage (82.7%). In the 5 games since he's returned from resting his injury, he's averaging 21 points, 7.2 boards and 7 assists.
• Artest likes the pine
  After an ugly start to the year, the newest Rocket is starting to get comfortable. In his last 5 games (last 3 off the bench), Ron Ron is averaging 19 points on nearly 48% shooting and 45% from downtown. That's getting it done.
• Improvement at the point
  There's really no other word but "abysmal" for Rafer's early shooting woes, but he has started stroking it from distance -- nearly 49% from three-point range in his past 8 games. With Rafer out in the last 3, Aaron Brooks has emerged (15.3 points on 45.2% shooting and 43.8% three, 5.3 assists). Over time I'd like to see a little less Rafer and a little more Brooks, but this combo is working right now.
• Threes and Frees
  Two areas that indicated early on that the Rockets could get it together once healthy: free-throw shooting and three-point shooting, both big weaknesses last season. In 2007-08 the Rockets were 25th out of 30 NBA teams at the stripe (72.6%) and 26th from beyond the arc (34.2%). This season they are the second best team at the line (81.9%) and have moved up to 5th best from downtown (38.5%). If the Rockets shot these percentages last year, you could add nearly 5 points to their nightly score, a massive leap in the NBA.
• Soft Schedule
  While the Rockets have clearly made strides, we'd be lying to ourselves if we didn't point out that they've been lined up against a few more creampuffs in December. Wins over the Hawks and Nuggets were impressive, but the Warriors twice, Clippers twice, Grizzlies, Timberwolves and Kings aren't exactly massive challenges for a supposed contender. That changes drastically this week when Houston takes on the Cavs, Hornets and Jazz.