For a while there, it looked as if the Rockets were floundering. They greeted the last week of February with a loss to the otherwise-reeling Lakers, marking their second straight setback and third in four outings. Frustration was setting in, and to the point where reigning league Most Valuable Player James Harden felt compelled to note that “we have no tendencies.” Never mind that he was still in the midst of a record scoring spree topped only by offensive force Wilt Chamberlain in pro hoops annals. As far as he was concerned, more pressing matters had to be contended with, their battle for homecourt advantage in the first round of the playoffs not least of all.
And then the Rockets found their groove. Ironically, they did so on the next outing, and without Harden to boot. The National Basketball Association’s most prolific point producer sat out the match against the rival Warriors, seemingly a grave handicap but, in retrospect, perhaps just what they needed to close ranks. In his absence, they wound up claiming victory at hostile Oracle Arena and underscoring, most importantly to themselves, that they were a force under any circumstance. For all his otherworldly exertions, he didn’t make them; rather, he made them better.
For the Rockets, the distinction is crucial to defining their competitiveness. Including yesterday’s emphatic triumph against the gritty Raptors on the road, they’re on a six-outing skein that has enabled them to challenge the swooning Nuggets for the second seed in the West. And who knows? With continually inspired play and a little help from the uncharacteristically shaky Warriors, they may yet be in the same position they were in last year heading into the postseason: as Number One in the conference and harboring realistic designs of going all the way.
These days, Harden is all smiles, highlighting, if nothing else, that three weeks in the NBA is an eternity. It helps, of course, that the Rockets, beset with injuries to key players throughout their 2018-19 campaign, are finally complete and healthy. “It feels good,” he acknowledged. “Guys know their roles. We’re executing defensively. We’re helping each other out. We’re talking.” In other words, they’re close to their finest, and they couldn’t have developed a rhythm at a better time. They’re supremely confident, and why not? They’re themselves anew, and they have him.
Anthony L. Cuaycong has been writing Courtside since BusinessWorld introduced a Sports section in 1994.
