The Rockets tip off a promising NBA season this week.

Why it matters: For Houston, it's where the rubber meets the road.

The big picture: After years of rebuilding, the Rockets are primed to capitalize on last season's 41-41 finish, their best in four years.

Driving the news: Houston hosts the Charlotte Hornets in the Toyota Center on Wednesday, the first of 82 regular season games in the 2024-25 season.

• The Rockets are offering a $25 opening-night ticket package that includes a seat and two drinks.

Catch up quick: After trading James Harden to the Brooklyn Nets in 2021, the team diverged from trying to attract big-ticket contracts to growing a team nearly from scratch.

• Guard Jalen Green, center Alperen Sengun and forward Jabari Smith Jr. have all played in Houston for their entire young careers, forging the team's turnaround.
• Those three are joined by two veterans, forward Dillon Brooks and guard Fred VanVleet, as the starting five this year.

Between the lines: Tilman Fertitta, now in his seventh year owning the team, has high expectations.

• Fertitta touted the team in September when unveiling a new $75 million practice center for players in Uptown.

What they're saying: "We plan on winning more than one or two," Fertitta said at the center's grand opening. "The point is we're very young. There's high expectations. But to be great, we have to get a little older. We're expecting a great year."

If you go: Tipoff is at 7pm Wednesday.

• Space City Home Network will broadcast.

Former President Trump has endorsed Sen. Ted Cruz in his re-election bid against Dallas congressman Colin Allred, a move that may comfort some Texas Republicans.

The big picture: Trump-backed candidates in several state and local races in Texas won their Republican primaries, even beating long-standing incumbents in some cases. 

What they're saying: "While I have Endorsed Ted, on numerous occasions, verbally, because of the Importance of the Race, and Ted's Importance to the future of our Country, I thought the Endorsement should be memorialized in writing," Trump wrote on Truth Social last week.

• Trump also reminded Texans that he "won big" in the state in 2016 and 2020. 

The intrigue: Allred pointed to Cruz's affiliation with Trump during their debate last week, calling Cruz "the architect" of the attempt to overthrow the 2020 election, leading to the Jan. 6, 2021, riots at the U.S. Capitol. Cruz laughed at Allred's claim. 

• Cruz didn't answer a question during the debate on whether he believed the 2020 election was stolen, a claim that has been widely debunked.  

What happened: Cruz was objecting to the certification of Arizona's 2020 election results when rioters breached the building. 

• At a Senate committee hearing in 2022, Cruz described the insurrection as a "violent terrorist attack." He later walked back that comment on Fox News, saying he was only referring to the people who attacked police officers and not the rest of the mob who objected to the 2020 election results.

Read more about the race

Voters in a handful of states that aren't Texas will effectively decide this November's presidential election.

Zoom in: The above maps show the last year each state went for a different party than it did in 2020, starting in 1964.

• That's when Washington, D.C., residents were first able to vote in presidential contests (they went blue, for LBJ, and have voted that way ever since).

State of play: Minnesota — blue since '76 — is also as solid a Democratic stronghold as they come.

• And a "red line" runs right through the middle of the country, with North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas and Oklahoma going Republican since 1968.
• Texas took a bit longer to start its streak; it's been red since 1980.

What's next: All eyes this year are on the states with the lightest shades of red and blue.

Houston's voter guide

🛒 Houston Food Bank is partnering with Cruise to make deliveries with self-driving cars to pregnant women. Safety drivers will be in the vehicles. (Houston Public Media)

 🌮 Azteca Taco House was ranked third in Texas Monthly's 50 best tacos list. Cochinita & Co., Papalo Taqueria (No. 7), the Original Ninfa's on Navigation and Tres Chiles were also featured. (Texas Monthly)

⚖️ Robert Roberson didn't testify before lawmakers Monday after a dispute over whether the death row inmate could appear in person. (Texas Tribune)

It finally feels a little like fall in Houston, but the trees don't know it … yet. 

Why it matters: Southeast Texas is among the last locations in the country to get any fall foliage.

The big picture: We'll have to wait till around Nov. 4 for partial fall foliage, according to travel brand SmokyMountains.com.