NBA Playoffs: Six X-factors for the Houston Rockets and OKC Thunder
By Corey Rausch
In the NBA playoffs, it is easy to focus solely on the top players for each team. For the OKC Thunder and Houston Rockets, let’s focus on the X-factors instead.
One of the most exciting series in the NBA playoffs comes in the first round will come in the meeting between the OKC Thunder and the Houston Rockets. The idea of seeing Christ Paul go against James Harden is a dream scenario. Assuming Russell Westbrook comes back during the series, watching him play games with real stakes against the team he played with for 11 seasons will be incredible. The Rockets may give up 50 rebounds in a game but they have a plan on how to mitigate that issue.
This will boil down to the players on the Thunder who try to take away that advantage and the players on the Rockets looking to exploit it. The players on the fringes will help to decide this series as much as Chris Paul, James Harden and Russell Westbrook (if and when he returns) will.
As star-studded as these teams are, they are very dependent on their style of play and forcing their will on their opponents. The Houston Rockets are famous for their super-small style that gives up rebounds but forces plenty of turnovers, takes an exorbitant number of threes and enjoy some Westbrook highlights. The Thunder are more methodical and punish mistakes. It will be a tug of war from the jump, even without Westbrook.
The Rockets famously floundered against the Golden State Warriors years ago when they missed 27 straight 3-pointers. Houston is not built to do that again.