The Houston Rockets were vouched to be one of the three best teams in the Western Conference, following the ascension of both Los Angeles teams and the inevitable dropoff of a juggernaut in the Golden State Warriors. But they have been anything but impressive this season, yet to have a signature win through 38 games this season, something James Harden attributes to a lack of continuity — a reason all too common in the Houston locker room this season.
“We haven’t had any consistency with our full rotation yet this entire season,” said Harden, according to Hunter Atkins of The Houston Chronicle. “Hopefully, that time will come when we can get a full roster and catch a rhythm, but until then, we’ll continue to rack up wins.”
Houston has seen Eric Gordon miss 24 games, Clint Capela miss seven and Russell Westbrook sit out for five, mostly for rest in back-to-back scenarios following an offseason surgery.
“Overall, we’ve been playing pretty good,” said Harden. “We know who we are. We know that our time’s gonna come, as far as catching a rhythm and running off multiple —10, 12, 15 games in a row. We haven’t done that yet. Our time’s gonna come.”
Since Christmas, the Rockets have lost to Warriors-lite team, the New Orleans Pelicans, and most-recently the Oklahoma City Thunder — a team they were confident to beat. Yet they've blown out the Minnesota Timberwolves by 30 and beat the second-place Nuggets by 26 earlier this year, leading to a shocking chain of events this season.
It's only a matter of time before Harden and Westbrook answer some questions on the court and reveal whether the Rockets can actually compete in the playoffs, or if they're merely built to “rack up wins” in the regular season.
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