Tough game to lose, especially considering the current condition of the Houston Rockets with the instability of their roster due to injuries and the integration of Ty Lawson, but in the end James Harden did what we feared. He carried his team to a big early season win considering the Rockets’ 0-3 start.
From the point of Westbrook sitting with his fourth foul the game changed course in a dramatic fashion. The twenty-five turnovers didn’t help and the twenty-five turnovers only give credence to the fact OKC is still a work in progress as far as ball movement and distribution when they’re playing top half level competition.
As far as Donovan sitting Westbrook the remainder of the third period—I don’t have a problem with it. It was the percentage play. Durant, Augustin and Waiters should have picked up the slack, they didn’t.
The twelve turnovers by Durant and Westbrook combined is something we’ve seen before and is something we’ll see again would be my guess. It’s a delicate balance for Billy Donovan to get them to play more controlled, yet not dim their creative brilliance. The hope would be they just learn to calibrate when the time is right to attempt a high risk play and when it’s not.
Not much time to dwell on a loss in the NBA. Tomorrow night Toronto Raptors in town, then a back to back in Chicago on Thursday evening. Two of the better teams in the Eastern Conference.
MJ