The Rockets look to take down the star-studded Phoenix Suns
I think when we look back at this season, the obvious storyline will be the road woes for the Houston Rockets. At home, the Rockets have generally been a good team. And that’s probably selling them short. Outside of the top four teams in the West (Minnesota, OKC, LAC, and Denver), no other team has a better home record in the West. At 19-9, that’s a 56-win pace. If they continue at this rate (a tall task, to be sure), that’s almost 30 wins right there. Get to .500 on the road and suddenly, you’re a 50-win squad.
Of course, it hasn’t been that simple for Houston. Road games have been nightmares for the good guys, and I think the final turning point of the season came on the four-game road trip right before the All-Star break. Minnesota crushed the Rockets (as expected), the Pacers outscored them (as expected), but then Houston lost to a Toronto team that they had just absolutely torched seven days prior in Houston. In the NBA, every game is difficult. Every team has good players. However, the turnaround in such a short time period was a gut punch. Plus, the Rockets had two days off heading into the game for the first time in what felt like a month. And yet the inability to win on the road continued. Then the Rockets had to fly overnight to Atlanta and decided that the second quarter didn’t matter.
No matter how these final 27 games go, this season has been a success. Ime Udoka has brought in a tough defense, which is the more difficult step in bringing a team back from the brink. The offense is still a work in progress, but has time to find itself moving forward.
Which brings us to the Phoenix Suns, tonight’s opponent. The Suns are basically fielding the exact sort of team that Daryl Morey dreamed of in his time in Houston. There’s an A+ superstar in Kevin Durant who can score at will. And when he can’t get it going or defenses are stymying him, there’s another A+ superstar in Devin Booker. When neither of them is going, Bradley Beal (when healthy) can step in and score too. They’ve surrounded their scorers with good three point shooters in Grayson Allen (48.2%, best in the NBA), Eric Gordon (38.8%), and Royce O’Neale (37%). They have an undersized forward who does the little things (Josh Okogie), and a competent big man in Jusuf Nurkic. When fully healthy, they only go 8-deep, which is a problem. However, no one is going to want to deal with them in the playoffs. And as the Kansas City Chiefs just taught us, sometimes you just need to get into the dance. Will they be favored over the Clippers or Nuggets in a 7-game series? Probably not. But you won’t be surprised when they win it anyway.
Tip-off
7pm CT
How to Watch
Space City Home Network
Injury Report
Rockets
Tari Eason-OUT (leg)
Suns
Bradley Beal-DOUBTFUL (hamstring/nose)
The Line (as of this post)
Looking ahead because we can
Sunday night at home against the Thunder