For Houston Rockets, the season has gotten off to a rocky start. As teams were resuming full practices after almost 5 months of inactivity, Houston found themselves without two star players. Russell Westbrook tested positive for COVID and delayed his arrival to the Orlando bubble. James Harden stayed away from the bubble and is expected to arrive with Westbrook.

Westbrook and Harden are the focal points of the Houston Rockets offense. The pair are en route to becoming the highest-scoring duo since Wilt Chamberlain and Paul Arizin in 1961-62.

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Houston Rockets guard Austin Rivers spoke to the media about practicing without Westbrook and Harden. He spoke about their first practice and said, “It went better than I expected. I thought basketballs were going to be flying everywhere, and we were going to be out of breath. We look actually pretty good. I know Rockets and defense don’t usually go hand in hand, but we were pretty solid today defensively.” 

Rivers also answered questions about how their team dynamic will change after Brodie and Harden return.

“Offensively it’s very different right now because we’re obviously playing without James and Russ right now, which is most of our offense. It’ll be a bigger adjustment when they come down here. It’s actually nice in some ways that we’re starting without them just because the energy’s so high right now… James and Russ will be like a whole jolt of energy, having them back, and then we’ll have another good practice and then we’ll have a day off here or there, but yeah it’s been great.”

Houston Rockets Losing Steam in The Bubble?

The Rockets have gone 8-7 in their games since the trade deadline. Their streaky nature can be attributed to the experiment around the small-ball system, but there won’t be time to find the perfect mix. Harden and Westbrook are the entire offensive focus of their teams. They are averaging 61.8 points between them and will need to perform even better to compete in the Western Conference playoffs.

Westbrook has led the NBA in points scored in the pain, and Harden is on his way to collect a third consecutive scoring title. But none of these accomplishments will matter if they fold in the playoffs.

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