The Houston Rockets opened up their series with the Thunder with a tough 120-91 loss on the road, but that shouldn't spell the end of the series, as James Harden and Jeremy Lin possess enough talent to help Houston win at least one game. While winning the series appears to be a longshot, the two players together could be enough to get Houston over the hump.
The primary story of course will be Harden's return to Oklahoma City, the team that decided to trade him right before the season began rather than sign him to a max contract to come off the bench. The Thunder liked using Harden as their sixth man, but with Houston he has been the number one option and has turned into one of the most skilled players in the NBA while teaming with Jeremy Lin to lead the Rockets as one of the best scoring squads in the West.
Both Harden and Lin were locked up with contracts prior to the season and form the core of the team with players like Chandler Parsons and Omer Asik. The two primary players will be directly matched up with Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook, who are considered two of the top players at their positions in the league. Both Houston and Oklahoma City have been scoring in bunches this year, ranking as some of the top teams in the league with 106 and 105.7 points respectively.
Kevin Martin has been solid all season in place of Harden, but head coach Scott Brooks knows how skilled the forward is and how much the team will need to focus to shut him down. Harden will relish in the chance to take down his past team, as he did the first time they met earlier in the regular season, dominating and taking over the scoring by dropping 46 points, while Lin added 26 points with seven assists and six rebounds. All three of the meetings this season have been high-scoring affairs, with one team scoring at least 120 points in each of the games.
The Rockets won the first game of the series before losing the next two against the Thunder, including a 122-120 loss. Lin will be looking to prove to everyone that he can be effective in the playoffs and Harden will be determined to show his old team what they are missing after the trade. Houston enters the playoffs with a loss after dropping the final game of the season in overtime against the Lakers, but the team will have some momentum after Parsons was the one who hit the shot to send it into extra time. The Rockets kept the game close despite giving up a triple double against Pau Gasol and now face the Thunder rather than the Spurs in the second seed, giving them a better matchup size wise.
The Rockets have gone 16-25 on the road this season, while the Thunder are 34-7 at home while averaging 105 points per game. The Rockets went 45-37 this season while ranking second in the league in scoring with 106 points per game, while the team ranked seventh in rebounding with 43 per game. The Rockets allowed 102 points per game, ranking 28th in the league, while the team behind Lin ranked sixth in the NBA in assists with over 20 per game. Oklahoma City has been one of the most impressive teams in the league while leading the western conference, ranking third behind the Rockets in scoring and ninth in points allowed with under 97 per game on average. The team ranks sixth in rebounding and 21st in assists with 21 per game.
