By: rahat huq
After last playing on Friday, the Rockets will enjoy four full days off before facing the L.A. Lakers in Houston on Wednesday. With Kobe Bryant sidelined and Pau Gasol playing the worst basketball of his career (and hell, maybe even traded by then), this is a game the Rockets should easily win. So they'll most likely lose. Expect Nick Young to go for 30 in a high scoring affair featuring many open three pointers. Houston then travels to Atlanta to take on a Hawks team that has lost center Al Horford for the remainder of the season. It's a squad that features forward Paul Millsap, a player over whom I once said I'd prefer keeping Omer Asik...before I realized Brandon Bass was the alternative. So there's that. Lastly, the good guys travel to Washington the very next night to face the team I wish I had picked in my League Pass 5 over the Bulls, especially now that three of my teams have been decimated (Cavaliers, Clippers, Bulls) and rendered unwatchable. The Wizards are 14-16 and fifth in the East; The Rockets are 22-13 and fifth in the West. Parity. John Wall is electrifying and worth his new contract. But this also once happened.