On the evening of Wednesday, November 13, we have our usual scheduled doubleheader of NBA action, with the first competition taking place in H-Town as the Houston Rockets look to defend home court against a team that could very well collide with them in April or May, the defensively-sound Los Angeles Clippers.
The Rockets haven’t had that much of a difficult schedule to begin their new season, so mark tonight as their first real assessment of how this year’s Rockets squad fares against a for-sure postseason visitor in the Clippers. LA has been banged up and is expecting some vital rotational pieces to miss some time, like their emerging sharpshooter and MIP candidate Landry Shamet who was pronounced as inactive for the next couple of games with a grade 2 high ankle sprain.
They’ve skated by against some arduous opposition on home soil, grinding out tight victories against the Trail Blazers and Utah Jazz. Their team-wide defensive prowess has been top-tier, though expected. It’s been their offense, particularly in the first half of their early-season games, that have struggled on numerous occasions to get the ball moving.
A bigger problem: the Clippers have shown that once their feet are stuck in the mud offensively as they opt for halfcourt defensive stands and open chances in transition to give way for perennial all-star acquisition and two-time Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard to get loose in the third quarter and beyond, they are blatantly susceptible to letting the stars of the opposing teams score early and often.
Relying on Leonard late when the games have been on the line has worked in recent memory, but losing the bench depth that Shamet provided doesn’t quite help the Clippers’ perception as a one-dimensional team, especially if there are only two ball-dominant offensive facilitators on the court at the same time, ala Lou Williams and Kawhi.
These problems, and more perhaps, might be easily solved once Paul George returns to an NBA floor soon (not tonight), and laces up for the first time as a Clipper after a near seven-month recovery from shoulder surgery.
That’s where the Rockets come in. James Harden is up to his old ways, ways that gifted him a Most Valuable Player award in 2018. Russell Westbrook is one of the most efficient scorers on the team (and that’s saying a lot right now, regardless of if we’re only eleven games in the new year), and these Rockets are starting to form that old chemistry that’s reminiscent of the 2018 Rockets’ offense that propelled Harden and company to the Western Conference Finals.
Yet tonight is a litmus test for Harden and the rest of the Rockets. They’ve played a total of ten games this year and while they’ve beaten teams like the Pelicans, Thunder, and Wizards, they’ve struggled mightily to stop above-average teams like Milwaukee and Miami.
Those are Eastern Conference teams, yes, but that doesn’t mean the Clippers team that these Rockets are facing tonight are worse. In fact, many would agree that they’re ions better than both of those teams, which makes tonight an important night for the Rockets in seeing just how close they are to looking like the West’s most dominant team, or how much they need to improve to look like one of them.
Houston’s also pretty banged up too. Eric Gordon is going to need six weeks to get better from an arthroscopic knee operation, and with a team that’s anemic at the 2-guard spot, that just means Harden is likely to receive a bump in minutes. Better to have Gordon rested and rehabbed now so that way he’s ready to go in April, May, and June, instead of rushing him on the floor when he won’t be ready to go.
Additionally, Danuel House Jr., the former Texas A&M standout that’s given some meritable contributions to this team, suffered a pretty ugly spill against the Pelicans a couple of nights ago and will likely sit this one out.
On the plus side, Clint Capela has fully rehabbed a sore shoulder of his and should have no trouble showing why he’s still one of the most aggressive pick-and-roll big men in the league tonight in the Toyota Center.
The Rockets will obviously rely heavily on Harden and we all know Russell Westbrook will be up for the challenge, but tonight will be ultimately decided by the utilization of minutes between Austin Rivers and someone else once Harden gets his rest or if in some way, gets in early foul trouble.
Tip-off is at 7:30 P.M. EST/ 6:30 P.M. CST on ESPN.
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