The Houston Rockets return to the Western Conference playoffs with their first round opponents being the reigning Western Conference champions Oklahoma City Thunder.
The Rockets went 1-2 against the Thunder during the regular season, and though most of the attention will be surrounded around James Harden going up against his former squad, one of the hardest matchups of the game will involve point guard Jermy Lin.
Lin has improved his game and has proven to be an important piece to the Rockets winning formula, but he'll have probably the toughest matchup of the series in guarding against OKC's Russell Westbrook. Though you can argue Westbrook's playmaking ability and selfish attitude at times, he's tremendous on both ends of the court, which can become problematic for Lin.
Westbrook is more explosive than Lin is and that may cause a problem making it incredibly difficult to stay in front of him and preventing him from getting to the basket.
Although Lin hasn't reached the elite point guard plateau with the likes of a player like Westbrook, new reports suggest that he's prepared to take on the challenge.
"Definitely, I want to experience it," Lin said. "Everyone wants to experience it. Who wouldn't want it? Definitely for me, it's something I'm looking forward to.
"It's one of those things I can't really prepare as well because I've never experience it. But for me, it's like every rookie. You go into your rookie season hoping to do really well, you don't know what to expect, but you're hoping for the best and you're working hard to give yourself the best opportunity. That's what I'm doing and we're doing as a team."
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