The Houston Rockets picked up their fourth win in a row after beating the Portland Trail Blazers on Thursday, 104-101. After the win, Rockets star point guard John Wall noted how the James Harden fiasco strained the team's progress early on. But now that it's over, they are exactly where they want to be.
The Rockets had a poor 3-6 record with an unhappy Harden to kick off the season. After sending him to the Brooklyn Nets in a four-way blockbuster deal, the team has tallied a 5-3 slate. Wall is clearly happy with the direction they're now taking (via Ben DuBose of USA Today).
“The team wasn’t where we wanted to be, and we had people that didn’t want to be here. So it’s kind of hard to play through that and try to find chemistry. Once we got that away and then we made the trades happen, we got the team that we wanted, and the guys that wanted to be here.”
Wall, who tallied 20 points, five rebounds, and six assists in the win over the Trail Blazers, pointed out that every single player on the Rockets has a chip on his shoulder. He also took a subtle jab at critics who believed that they would be trash without Harden in the fold.
“Once we all committed to what we wanted to do, we’re going to be a good team. Everybody has something to prove, that people don’t think we can be as good as we are. They said we were going to be bad when James went away.”
John Wall and the Rockets now sit on an 8-9 record and they have a shot at extending their winning streak to five games when they face the New Orleans Pelicans on Saturday.
Follow Us
Subscribe