At long last, the offseason has come to an end, and the preseason is no more. After more than four months since the last game that counted, the Houston Rockets are about to tip off their season. They’ll face an intriguing opponent in the form of the Denver Nuggets on Wednesday night.
The Rockets and Nuggets have a bit of history recently, after the Rockets acquired point guard Ty Lawson from the Nuggets for essentially spare parts. The Rockets sent Pablo Prigioni, Joey Dorsey, Kostas Papanikolaou and Nick Johnson to Denver for Lawson’s services.
It’s worth noting that none of those players are still with the Nuggets, while Lawson will start at point guard for the Rockets.
ALSO ON HOOPSHABIT: NBA Draft: Best Player Ever Selected in all 60 Spots
Denver’s starting lineup:
Point guard: Emmanuel Mudiay
Shooting guard: Randy Foye
Small forward: Wilson Chandler
Power forward: Kenneth Faried
Center: Joffrey Lauvergne
Houston’s starting lineup:
Point guard: Ty Lawson
Shooting guard: James Harden
Small forward: Trevor Ariza
Power forward: Terrence Jones
Center: Clint Capela
Matchups
Denver will start a rookie at point guard Wednesday in the form of Mudiay, who happens to be Lawson’s successor. Mudiay is 19 years old and has shown flashes of being a star one day, but it’s likely that Lawson and fellow point guard Patrick Beverley will feast on the youngster.
Mudiay averaged 15 points and 5.4 assists per game in the preseason, shooting 37 percent from the field. He also averaged 4.8 turnovers per game, so look for Beverley to hound him into frustration on defense. It could be a long night for the young man.
More from Houston Rockets
- 5 NBA players everyone should be keeping a close eye on in 2023-24
- 5 NBA teams on the rise that will surprise everyone in 2023-24
- The latest intel has Houston ready to overpay for two free agency targets
- NBA Rumors: Houston has a polarizing backup plan if they don’t land Harden
- NBA Rumors: Houston could make a win-now trade for a star this summer
It will be interesting seeing how the Rockets manage minutes in this one, as during the preseason head coach Kevin McHale spread the minutes around in a balanced fashion. Twelve different players averaged at least 18.4 minutes, and nobody averaged more than Ariza’s 26.5 minutes per game.
The Rockets are widely considered to be one of the deepest teams in the NBA, and we’ll finally get to see how exactly that depth will be utilized.
Among the most intriguing rotation questions includes the use of Capela, K.J. McDaniels, Sam Dekker and Montrezl Harrell. The latter two names on that list are rookies, and both played more than 18 minutes per game in the preseason.
McDaniels showed flashes in the preseason after being buried on the bench last season after being acquired from the Philadelphia 76ers, and the 6-foot-6 shooting guard may have won a regular spot in the rotation.
Capela also barely played for the Rockets last year, ending up seeing more action in the playoffs than the regular season (17 games in the playoffs, 12 in the regular season), but his role is expected to expand significantly in relief of center Dwight Howard, who will miss the season opener due to suspension from committing too many flagrant fouls in last season’s playoffs.
Capela averaged 8.3 points, 8.8 rebounds and 1.3 blocks in the preseason, playing 23.9 minutes per game. That minute total was the third-highest on the team.
Capela’s matchup will be a young man by the name of Joffrey Lauvergne. He will be filling in the starter role for the Nuggets at center until incumbent Jusuf Nurkic returns from a knee injury. That return is expected to come sometime in November, but it won’t be on opening night.
Space City Scoop
Lauvergne played just 268 minutes for Denver last season in 24 games, of which he started one. His net rating last season in those 24 games was minus-15, with the Nuggets giving up 106 points per 100 and scoring 91. His per 36-minutes numbers are obviously over too small a sample to get excited about, but he did average 12.5 points and 10.3 rebounds per 36.
That said, he only hit 40.4 percent of his shots, which is remarkably low for a center.
He did put up good numbers in the preseason though, averaging 13.3 points and 8.8 rebounds per game, hitting 59.3 percent of his shorts and 81.2 percent of his free throws.
Superstar shooting guard James Harden will have perhaps the biggest matchup advantage on the night. Harden will be checked by Randy Foye, who is no defensive stopper.
When Foye was on the floor last season, the Nuggets yielded 111 points per 100 possessions while scoring 102 points, for a net rating of -9. If Foye is caught on an island with Harden, which should regularly happen, he is going to have to resort to fouling him to avoid being beaten on drives to the paint.
Prediction
The Rockets are the second-biggest favorite on the night’s 14-game slate according to Vegas with a 10.5-point spread, and it’s projected to be the fastest-paced game on the night with an over-under total of 212 points.
The Nuggets historically play as one of the fastest teams in the league, finishing fourth in pace last season with 96.1 possessions per game, but the Rockets play even faster. Last season Houston finished second in the NBA with 96.5 possessions per game, so you can expect both teams to end up with a touch more than their average possession total.
The Nuggets don’t have the weapons to keep up with the Rockets, and the breakneck pace of this game will exacerbate the skill advantage the hometown Rockets have. Expect the Rockets to pull away in the second half of a game and run the visiting Nuggets out of the gym and cover the 10.5-point spread.
Next: 25 Best Players To Play for the Houston Rockets
More from Hoops Habit
- The 5 most dominant NBA players who never won a championship
- 7 Players the Miami Heat might replace Herro with by the trade deadline
- Meet Cooper Flagg: The best American prospect since LeBron James
- Are the Miami Heat laying the groundwork for their next super team?
- Sophomore Jump: 5 second-year NBA players bound to breakout