Life rough without Harden
As one could have predicted, the Rockets’ post-James Harden era got off to a roaring start.
The renewed, re-energized Rockets roared in an emotional win over the Spurs a week ago.
It was fun and exciting. Exhilarating.
Clearly, they were a team that had been waiting to exhale.
Because, you know, Harden was a problem.
So they walked off the court at the AT&T Center in San Antonio strutting like Bernadine after she set that BMW on fire.
Thing is, Angela Bassett’s character got better when she dropped her loser husband, who had eyes for another.
She was gonna be all right. Addition by subtraction, for real.
The Rockets didn’t improve by trading Harden to that skank
in Brooklyn he wanted to hook up with.
That one night, the win in San Antonio, was nice. Now what?
A mere seven days later, the Rockets have lost three games in a row, and their current best player rolled his ankle and probably is not going to play for a while.
Meanwhile, Harden has starred in Brooklyn, where he became the first player in NBA history to have a 30-point triple double in a debut with a new team.
You didn’t believe in the Harden-led Rockets? OK.
What about these Rockets?
For the better part of the past eight seasons, the Rockets were good enough to be in the debate of whether they could win an NBA championship.
Yes, no, maybe didn’t matter. They were in the discussion.
The new reality is they aren’t even going to be on the losing side of said debate. They are the unmentionables.
It is sad, really. Not too long ago — um, a week or so — if the NBA was being talked about, the Rockets were in the discussion. Their best player was one of the best.
Now, their best player is Christian Wood.
Oh, basketball-wise he is a joy to behold. A long, lean dunking machine.
Plus, he has a chip on his shoulder for being overlooked as a quality pro and is an entertaining personality.
The “quality pro” description is selling him short. Wood is an All-Star-level player.
Wood quickly joked with Shaquille O’Neal that the TNT commentator and former NBA big man was “a casual” (fan) after O’Neal admitted to not knowing his game. It won’t be long before more of the NBA world recognizes Wood.
He leads the Rockets at 23.5 points a game, 10.8 rebounds a game and 1.8 blocks a game.
That’s Hakeem Olajuwon-like.
Wood is no Oajuwon. And he is no James Harden.
I’m not chopping Wood here. He is a heck of a player.
This isn’t the bad ol’ days when Allen Leavell led the team at 14.8 points a game.
Those were the darkest days of the Houston Rockets. When they weren’t trying to win or capable of winning.
These are hazy days. Clearly not good, not clearly bad.
Do you miss Harden? He has been gone for only a week.
Exhale? Wherefore out thou, James?