The Houston Rockets had a magical run last season that was, unfortunately for them, torpedoed by an untimely injury to Chris Paul. They were one win away from the NBA Finals and a chance to take home the franchise’s first title since the mid-90s glory days of Hakeem Olajuwon and company.
Now, the rest of the league is ready for them. Despite losing some key defenders and perimeter threats this summer, they are still widely considered the second-best team in the West, which means a bevy of other conference upstarts and stalwarts will be gunning for them this year.
James Harden already understands this, and he’s been trying to prepare his teammates mentally for what it’s going to be like when opponents try to rattle them by coming at them physically, and how these incidents can escalate quickly like they did during this weekend’s brawl that resulted in suspensions to key figures on both sides.
Via Martin Rogers of USA Today Sports:
“For sure,” he said, when asked if teams are playing tougher and more physically against Houston this season. “The success we have been having, obviously we haven’t won a championship yet, but the way we have been playing we have done pretty well.
“So whenever we are at home and teams come to our home court, or we are on the road, they get up for us so we have got to be ready for that. They play harder, they play a lot more confident. We just got to figure it out.”
Obviously, the Rockets want to avoid situations like this weekend. They’ll need all the time they can get to integrate new players into the rotation and find their chemistry this season. The 1-2 start isn’t anything to panic about just yet, but the margin for error is as narrow as it’s ever been given the jockeying that will take place for the top seeds in the West.
(Via USA Today Sports)
