The Houston Rockets will now try to follow in the footsteps of the surging Houston Astros, who punched their ticket to the 2019 World Series over the weekend with a six-game series win over the heralded New York Yankees. With the 2019-20 NBA regular season starting this week, Rockets head coach Mike D'Antoni and his roster, including Austin Rivers, hope to keep things rolling right along in Houston.
D'Antoni fully understands how important the Astros' recent success is to the city of Houston as the American League West ball club is seeking its second title in the last three seasons after winning it all back in 2017 as well.
“It means the whole city of Houston, we should celebrate,” D'Antoni said, via Alykhan Bijani of The Athletic. “It's greatness. It's fun to watch them. It's one of the best teams ever. They're proving it.”
Rockets guard Austin Rivers also chimed in and made a point to note that Astros second baseman and ALCS MVP Jose Altuve is quite “clutch.”
“I’m very happy for the city of Houston, hopefully [the Rockets] can do something similar,” Rivers told the aforementioned Bijani.
As for the Rockets, the Western Conference franchise is looking to take advantage of the having former Oklahoma City Thunder point guard Russell Westbrook once again play alongside veteran guard James Harden. With the Rockets infamously acquiring Westbrook in an offseason trade with the Thunder, Houston is now expected to serve as one of the best teams in the entire NBA even in a stacked Western Conference.