The Rockets have spent all year building towards Monday night’s Game 1 matchup with the Warriors in the Western Conference Finals. Houston has been, rightfully, obsessed with building a roster intent on combating Golden State’s quartet of All-Stars, knowing that the road to a championship goes through the Warriors.
The biggest addition for the Rockets was adding point guard Chris Paul, who came to Houston intent on rewriting the narrative around his own personal playoff success. Adding Paul also brought a more intense figure to the Rockets locker room in terms of a commitment to preparation, something that hasn’t always been a hallmark of the James Harden-led Houston squads.
That’s not to say Harden isn’t in the film room and doesn’t take preparation seriously, but Paul takes things to a completely different level with his obsession with watching games and trying to glean information from them. Ahead of Game 1, Harden noted this difference when talking about how Paul will just watch NBA games on Houston’s off nights and constantly text his co-star about what he’s seeing, even when Harden is out and about enjoying his off time.
Harden: “Chris (Paul) is always watching games and texting me ‘Did you see this, did you see what that guy did?” And I’m like ‘Chris, you know I’m out right now.’”
— Hardwood Paroxysm (@HPbasketball) May 13, 2018
Context was about how much Chris Paul loves the game, by the way. He’s always watching, studying, etc. Says honestly, not a lot of guys in the NBA love basketball that much. https://t.co/ktzEc7EByL
— Hardwood Paroxysm (@HPbasketball) May 13, 2018
It’s a pretty funny anecdote, but one that’s extremely believable and not at all surprising with what we know about both stars. They have very different approaches to things off the court, but the presence of those two opposite personalities may be what’s helped them so much this season. Some of that intensity has possibly rubbed off on Harden, while Paul may be having more fun than in previous years and able to enjoy the process a bit more.
We’ll find out if that and the Rockets’ roster construction is enough to get them to the Finals, or if this summer it’ll be back to the drawing board for Houston.
