Yet, it works, in part due to their backgrounds. Defensive-minded guard Patrick Beverley will surely make Westbrook work for everything, plus he can shoot the long ball.
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The Houston Rockets finished one game ahead of the Utah Jazz for the Western Conference eighth seed with a 41-41 record a year ago.
As they are set to being their playoff series against James Harden and his Houston Rockets, it will be an uphill battle for the Thunder. No one else’s. And they know it.
As the Thunder prepare for the Houston Rockets, they can find some upside in the fact that the Rockets only outscored them by 0.9 points per 100 possessions with Westbrook on the floor, versus 7.3 per 100 with him off. Leonard did have a great offensive season, shooting 38 percent from three on his way to averaging 25.5 points per game, but he doesn’t turn it over for the same reason he doesn’t pick up many assists, which is that the Spurs offense is a well-drilled machine designed to create opportunities for Kawhi to take makable shots. But, funnily enough, I don’t see a way he finishes any higher than four and I think that says far more about the other three than it does about him.
Westbrook recorded 42 triple-doubles, which is 41 more than the Pelicans had this season. “I think this is a great matchup for Chicago”.
The best player in the sport is still James.
The talking heads on multiple TV shows are debating which one of these two players should win the MVP award. Westbrook’s gaping lack of synergy compared to Harden’s leads to significant losses for Westbrook’s Thunder.
They swapped spectacular highlights during the regular season: Westbrook averaging a triple-double in carrying Oklahoma City after Kevin Durant’s departure; Harden leading the league in assists for a high-octane Houston offense that shattered the National Basketball Association record for 3-pointers. Robertson also did it in 1961-62. Harden averaged 29.1 points (61.3 true shooting percentage), 8.1 rebounds and 11.2 assists this season, with his penchant for facilitating coming to the forefront frequently against the Thunder. Houston, specifically, has ridden the strategy to historic levels.
“Defensively, I got my hands full”. But the experiment never jelled, and Jokic got the bulk of the minutes while 22-year-old Nurkic averaged fewer than 18 minutes with eight points per game. It’ll allow Harden to get his but it’ll also allow the Thunder to do an adequate job of shutting down Harden’s supporting cast.
The Clippers will take another crack at it beginning against the Utah Jazz and their emerging French big man Rudy Gobert.
Energized in Portland, he became the first Trail Blazer to average 15-plus points and 10-plus rebounds in his first 20 games with the team since Mychal Thompson in 1978.
Yet as D’Antoni shared in chat with USA TODAY Sports, he’s also the man who doesn’t believe any of it was possible without Harden and his unique talents.
Westbrook will have to help one of the youngest teams in the NBA get acclimated to playoff basketball.
It’s a related approach for the two former teammates.
While the Rockets missed 8 of 9 3-pointers down the stretch of the opening period, the Timberwolves surged ahead with a 19-5 run sparked by Towns and Wiggins. “I think everybody knows that”. Roberson is one of the league’s best perimeter defenders and if he can impact some of Harden’s fluid effortlessness, the series has potential to go down as a classic. “But not a lot”. Ultimately, the Thunder will need a major sidekick to step up consistently throughout the series if they want a chance of upsetting one of the league’s elite offenses – we’re looking at you, Oladipo. Of course, it’s more likely to go the other way as the Thunder exploit the Rockets on the offensive glass, but it’s a wrinkle that makes the series interesting.
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Don’t expect them to see each other outside the arena during the series. James is the motor of their team. It sounds silly, perhaps, but even during some of Westbrook’s most heroic regular season performances, he couldn’t always pull it off against some of the league’s elite franchises.
