The first half of the regular season for the Houston Rockets has been interesting. Beginning the season, the Rockets were at the bottom of the western conference with a 1-5 record. In addition, dealing with injuries to key members of the roster like Chris Paul, Clint Capela and Eric Gordon. In spite of all these issues, Houston still is a top five seed in the Western Conference.
With 26 games left to play after the all-star break, Houston has chances to fix these problems before heading into the postseason. Currently, if the playoffs ended today the Rockets would face the Trail Blazers in the first round of the playoffs. A matchup in which the Rockets would be favored in due to Portland's previous playoff failures.
The Rockets are a team that has not reached their full potential yet this season. Recently, Houston made changes to the team before the trade deadline, and will likely make more during the buyout market.
Many Rockets fans are waiting for the team from last year to reemerge, well here are some other bold predictions Rockets fans should lookout for.
Harden's scoring numbers will drop
James Harden is once again having an amazing MVP caliber season. In fact what Harden is doing this season is better than the previous two. As we enter the all-star break Harden has scored 30 points in 31 straight games. That only trails the great Wilt Chamberlain who scored 30 points in 65 straight games.
During this remarkable streak Harden is averaging 41.5 points per game to go along with 7.5 assists per game. Also, Harden has scored over 40 points in 18 of the 31 games during this streak. Maybe the most impressive part of this streak, is that of his made field goals during the streak, almost 90% have been unassisted.
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However, at some point all good things must come to an end. Down the stretch run of the NBA regular season, expect Harden's scoring tear to drop-off. Harden's points per average will come back down to around 30 points per game, which he averaged last season.
The streak will come to an end due to fatigue, you can only carry the offensive scoring load for so long. Besides, as the Rockets regain their health, they won't need these tremendous scoring outburst from Harden. Furthermore, Harden's running mate Chris Paul is more than capable of having a big scoring nights, and therefore Harden won't shoot as much.
Ultimately, Harden's streak ending could benefit them, as they would beginning to play more like a team, instead of watching Harden isolate every possession.
The Rockets will have a double digit winning streak
As mentioned earlier, Houston has dealt with a plethora of injuries this season. Not to mention, having lost key wing defenders in Trevor Ariza and Luc Mbah a Moute during the offseason. It appears that things haven't clicked for Houston like they did last season.
Nevertheless, as we approach the postseason the Rockets will return to form. The key is when Clint Capela returns from his right thumb injury after the all-star break. Capela is the defense anchor of this team, and is the focal screener in the Rockets screen and roll centric offense.
During Capela's time out the Rockets additions have made a positive impact. Austin Rivers, Kenneth Faried and Iman Shumpert have helped in giving Houston a better bench rotation.
Last season the Rockets had three different winning streaks of 10 plus games. A 10 or more game winning streak after the all-star break would catapult the Rockets in the Western Conference standings. They could go from battling Portland for the fourth seed, to battling Oklahoma City and Denver for the second seed.
Houston will win the buyout market
One of the biggest phenomenons over the recent years in the NBA is the buyout market. It occurs every year after the trade deadline, where players are bought out of their contracts from struggling teams to become a free agent. All contending teams look to the buyout market to try to add one final player to hopefully a championship roster.
After the trade deadline, General Manager Daryl Morey during a practice interview made it clear that Houston will pursue players in the buyout market.
“We were also able to create a lot of flexibility for both buyouts this year, to add players down the stretch this year,” said Morey.
Some potential buyout candidates are: Wesley Matthews, Robin Lopez, Wanye Ellington, Zach Randolph Frank Kaminsky and Markieff Morris.
Morris has been the player that seems Houston is most likely to target once he becomes available. In signing Morris, Houston will once again have multiple good wing defenders, like they had last season.
Shumpert, Morris and PJ Tucker will all help guard against the likes of Kevin Durant, Lebron James, and Paul George in potential postseason matchups.
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