Houston Rockets: James Harden remains confident in his team
Despite losing three consecutive games for the first time this season, James Harden remains quite confident in his squad.
In a regular season where the Houston Rockets have managed to live up to the hype, the team is currently in the midst of going through arguably its roughest stretch yet this year.
Houston, who won 14 straight games over the last month and a half, has dropped its last three contests at the hands of the Los Angeles Lakers, Los Angeles Clippers and Oklahoma City Thunder, falling from the top of the standings over the last week. The Rockets now sit a game behind the Golden State Warriors for the No. 1 spot in the Western Conference.
Yet despite Clutch City’s woes, James Harden is confident that Houston will soon return to form.
"“We’ll be all right,” Harden told ESPN‘s Tim MacMahon, following the Rockets 112-107 loss to Oklahoma City.“Guys are playing a little bit too many minutes. Our defense isn’t really there consistently, and our offense, we aren’t making shots like we need to be. We’ll be all right. It’s a part of it. We’ve just got to fight through it. It’s a long season.”"
The Rockets (25-7) have recently been hampered by a slew of injuries to key contributors, as point guard Chris Paul has missed the last two games with a strained adductor. Forward Luc Mbah A Moute and center Clint Capela are both listed as out, with a right orbital fracture and dislocated shoulder.
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Over the last three games, Houston has struggled to hold its own against opposing teams on the defensive end, giving up 119.6 points per 100 possessions — providing them with the green light to knock down a bevy of shots in the process.
The Rockets have allowed 13.7 3-pointers per game on 43.2 percent shooting, placing them within the bottom-five in each category during that time span.
However, Harden’s message to his teammates remains the same, heading into Thursday night’s primetime showdown against the Boston Celtics.
"“Just be resilient,” Harden said to MacMahon. “Keep fighting, keep playing for each other, and things will turn.”"
While it is quite nice to see The Beard providing his teammates with words of encouragement, Houston must find a way to rectify its issues in order to generate wins before the new year.
During their 14-game winning streak, the Rockets posted the third-best defensive rating in all of basketball — allowing 101.5 points per 100 possessions, en route to beating teams by an average of 16.2 points per game.
The Rockets have proven that they can score against the best of teams on any given night, with either Harden or Paul running the show through the first 32 games of the season. However, it is Houston’s defense that must find a way to rise to the occasion come crunch time, and get back to shutting opponents down once again.
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Houston still ranks within the top 10 in defensive rating this season despite the three-game losing skid, and should it hold opponents under 100 points per contest, the team could become virtually unstoppable once again.