Saturday Night Primetime NBA Basketball has made its much-anticipated return into the ABC airways, and what better way to start the weekly tradition off with a bang. The 33-8 Lakers finally get to see what they look like when matched up with the Houston Rockets and all NBA fans will have their questions answered at 8:30 p.m. ET as the best backcourt in the NBA, composed of league-leader in scoring James Harden and 2017 League MVP Russell Westbrook do battle with the most the leading all-star vote-getter LeBron James and his new-look Lake Show squad.
But this one won’t be fully packed with superstardom, as Anthony Davis is to miss his fifth-straight game due to a lingering back issue sustained from a fall against the Knicks a week ago.
Tonight’s battle – the first primetime Saturday game of the year, if you had to be reminded – could act as the perfect little reprieve in the H-Town, since all sports news coming out of Houston hasn’t been all sunshine and rainbows as of late, to put it euphemistically in regards to the Texans blowing a 24-0 lead against the Chiefs in the playoffs and the looming possibility of the Houston Astros’ 2017 title being stripped due to sign-stealing and a whole lot of other shenanigans.
The Rockets, specifically are reeling from a rare home loss to the Trail Blazers in which Damian Lillard and Carmelo Anthony lit them up from just about everywhere on the floor, while MVP favorite James Harden couldn’t buy a basket with his 3-12 night from the field, so a chance to turn things around against the best team in the West doesn’t sound like the easiest task in the world, but a possible one worth the effort.
Los Angeles isn’t quite walking into this Western contest unscathed, either. They suffered a weird home loss to the visiting Orlando Magic, letting Markelle Fultz drop a triple-double and game-clincher in their face in its waning seconds. The Lakers are obviously prohibitive favorites in the West and those kinds of games happen every once in a while, but no defensive slip-ups are to be allocated against a Rockets team that we all know can fire away from downtown with a sense of proclivity. LA starts off this cross-country road trip with a trip to Houston, and their next stop is going to be in Boston on MLK day, so this result is needed if they’re to kickstart another winning streak on the right foot.
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