SportsPulse: Things got ugly between the Rockets and Clippers on Monday night. USA TODAY Sports NBA reporter Sam Amick explains how it got to this point. USA TODAY Sports
HOUSTON – James Harden wasn’t himself on Thursday night, but that didn’t matter all that much.
The Houston Rockets star was back from the hamstring injury that cost him seven games, back to re-start his MVP race with LeBron James and to remind the NBA masses that those first few months were not a fluke. The fact that these Rockets rolled through the up-and-coming Minnesota Timberwolves 116-98 with Harden missing 12 of 15 shots was strangely perfect, a reminder that their “Run as One” motto is both a marketing pitch and a reflection of this roster.
So Eric Gordon poured in 30 points in his super sixth man role, and Chris Paul turned in a trademark 20-point, nine-assist outing. Big man Clint Capela pitched in 20 points and even defensive specialist Luc Mbah a Moute – whose recent return from a 15-game injury absence is a huge deal in under-the-radar ways – added 14.
“We got a win; that’s all that matters,” Harden said afterward. “Obviously CP and those guys, they had an extremely great game tonight. But everybody else filled in…Yesterday in practice, we looked really good because we finally had everybody together.”
What a welcome concept.
For anyone who didn’t notice during their 25-4 start that sparked all that title talk, this is how these Rockets function when matters of health don’t get in the way. And now, with a showdown against the defending champion Golden State Warriors on Saturday, it’s fact or fiction time, with these two questions looming largest of all.
Have the Rockets really improved defensively?
We shall see, but there was more than enough evidence early on to suggest that the progress was real. Beyond the numbers – the Rockets had the league’s fifth-best defensive rating at the quarter mark after finishing just 18th last season – it was the chemistry between their defensive-minded pieces that was there for all to see.
The offseason additions of Paul, P.J. Tucker and Mbah a Moute serve as ideal complements to incumbents like Harden, Capela, and Trevor Ariza (who missed the Timberwolves game and will miss the Warriors game because of his suspension relating to the Clippers locker room dust-up on Monday night). But then injuries cost Paul 18 games, and the foundation they’d built on that end eroded from there.
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Being healthy again gives the Rockets a chance to rediscover that defensive spirit, but there is more work to do as they currently rank 13th in defensive rating (105 points allowed per 100 possessions). This matters greatly, of course, because the strategy of simply outscoring the Warriors isn’t much of a strategy at all (top offensive rating, at 113.6 points scored per 100 possessions).
Can the Rockets (31-12) really beat the Warriors (37-9)?
When it comes to the psychological aspect of this matchup, it’s worth revisiting something Harden said when the Rockets downed the Warriors 122-121 on opening night at Oracle Arena.
“We’ve got a chance,” Harden said then about the Rockets’ big-picture perspective on the Warriors. “We’ve got to be consistent with it, and not just get up for the Warriors but make sure we take care of business every single night.”
Then again, this would be a great time to get up again – especially considering it’s the final matchup of the season between these two teams. And a chance, if we’re being honest here, is really the best they can hope for against this would-be dynasty.
While it’s tough to quantify the ripple effect that regular season showings like this might have on playoff prospects, it’s worth noting that the first two had the kinds of gaping roster holes that made it tough to draw any conclusions. Paul scored just four points before re-injuring his left knee in the opener, and didn’t even play in those final minutes before missing the next 14 games.
Still, the reality of the Rockets’ struggles against the Warriors meant it still qualified as a breakthrough (the Warriors had won 19 of the previous 24 meetings, including two playoff matchups). In the second meeting – a 124-114 Warriors win at the Toyota Center on Jan. 4 – the absent Harden was just days removed from his hamstring injury.
Translation: With Harden back in the fold, this might turn out to be the only true test between these two teams. And from Harden on down, health may be the X-factor that helps them bridge this gap.
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