After their first win of the season, the Houston Rockets begin what appears (on paper, at least) to be the toughest schedule stretch of the entire season.
Houston plays six of its next eight road games (so after tonight, six of seven), and all eight of those games are against teams that have expectations of competing. Yes, you can laugh at the Los Angeles Lakers all you want, or remind me that the Dallas Mavericks looked just as bad against the Atlanta Hawks as the OKC Thunder did against the Rockets.
Or, you could say that the Boston Celtics are 0-2 and left their own building against the Toronto Raptors in rebuilding / re-equipment.
But to that, I’d say the Celtics are hungry for a win and see an easy target in the Rockets. They know their bench has been outmatched in both games, but the Houston bench is a blob at the moment as Stephen Silas is still trying to figure out what he has and what his rotations should be like.
Jaylen Brown is in doubt tonight with a knee injury. If he can’t go, Jayson Tatum will take on a more prominent role and try to drop 50.
It is the basketball version of the ALCS, in which the Houston Astros defeated the Boston Red Sox in 6 games to advance to the World Series. Hopefully, the Rockets can continue Houston’s dominance over Boston.
The game is on NBA TV and starts a little earlier than normal.