AP Images/Getty Images/Ringer illustration The Rockets are winning with a dominant defense that merges old-school toughness with cutting-edge principles Shortly before this season started, I wrote a column that characterized the Houston Rockets—with all their depth, trade assets, and blue-chip prospects—as the NBA's most fascinating team. Now, after watching them pummel everything in front of them for about a month, it's officially accurate to call them this season's most pleasant surprise. The Rockets are 12-6, third in the West, and outscoring opponents at one of their most impressive rates in franchise history. Zoom in and the root of their success is simple: a disciplined, analytically sound, hair-raisingly hostile defense that's allowing fewer points per 100 possessions than every team except the Oklahoma City Thunder. It's early, but the foundational seeds that head coach Ime Udoka planted last season may officially be in bloom. Houston is electric and adaptable. The pieces fit, the roles work, the scheme has believers, and the players are mercilessly intense. The Rockets' established defenders have been excellent—Dillon Brooks and Fred VanVleet are tone-setting...