Houston Rockets vs Oklahoma City Thunder Primer: Harden vs Westbrook

The Verdict

The Thunder will no doubt make the series interesting. They have one elite skill as a team: rebounding, which they led the league in. One might think they can crash the boards enough to make this a competitive series, but rebounding simply doesn’t translate to team success in the modern NBA. The next five best rebounding teams in the league this year were the Nuggets, Bulls, Pistons, Knicks, and Suns – not exactly a murderer’s row.

It’s also not like the Rockets can’t counter the Thunder’s size without having to give up what makes them so special. There’s a reason Daryl Morey is paying Ryan Anderson almost $20 million a year. The Rockets are like Gozer: they’ll let you choose the form of your destructor. They’ll beat you playing big and they’ll beat you playing small. If only the Thunder had someone to counter both that size and three-point shooting…a 7-footer who can both space the floor and switch onto multiple positions on defense…

Alas, Kevin Durant ain’t walking through those doors. The end result will feature some exciting games but will also be predictable.

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The best the Thunder can hope for is that the Rockets go cold, Russ goes nuclear for a few games, an unexpected Thunder wing heats up from outside, and this series gets pushed to a seventh game. That’s a lot to ask for.

The end result: Houston Rockets in five.