courtesy of nba.com
The Rockets will get a chance to lick their wounds after Saturday night’s loss to the Warriors with games against some of the weaker teams in the league, traveling below the border to face a Wolves team in Mexico, coming home for Sam Hinkie’s 76ers, and traveling back up to Oklahoma City for a date with the Thunder next Sunday evening. Houston should be getting Dwight Howard back by Wednesday, one would think, but there is still no word on the status of Terrence Jones and Patrick Beverley. The two latter Rockets could miss more than a week, their loss exerting more strain on an already thin Houston bench.
What I’ll be looking for this week: I don’t mind the loss of Beverley during this stretch so much because the circumstances give Isaiah Canaan extra reps to further acclimate himself within the Houston offense. With Chandler Parsons gone, Houston will need Canaan to assert himself during critical stretches of the season, if they hope to maintain their current winning percentage. Fatigue will eventually take its toll upon James Harden and another perimeter playmaker will have to step up.
The other big story will be the Dwight Howard-Nerlens Noel rematch on Friday night at Toyota Center. While Howard seemed respectable in the box score, Noel did about as good a job I can remember anyone (not named Bargnani) doing on Howard, consistently denying the big man positioning at his favorite spots. I couldn’t get a conclusory grasp of whether the problem was more symptomatic of poor post positioning technique on the part of Howard or a systematic issue with Houston’s post entry efforts. Either way, Noel is an absolute beast who should anchor the Philadelphia defense for the next decade. Will the Rockets make the necessary adjustments to get Howard the ball in the post?
Last of all, you’ll have to wonder if Serge Ibaka and Kendrick Perkins will still be continuing their freeze-out of Reggie Jackson by the time Sunday evening rolls around. The Rockets can only hope so.
The dangerous Memphis Grizzlies–maybe the worst matchup in the entire league for Houston–await the Rockets at the start of the next week.
