If the Houston Rockets wanted to send a message in their first game since James Harden was traded to the Brooklyn Nets, mission accomplished. Despite not having John Wall, Eric Gordon and newly acquired Victor Oladipo, the Rockets beat the San Antonio Spurs 109 to 105 on national TV on Thursday night to start the post-Harden era.
The Rockets were once again led by Christian Wood, who has been phenomenal so far after signing with the team in the off-season. He scored 27 points from 10 out of 18 shots, including 5 out of 7 out of 3 points, while pulling 15 rebounds and blocking three shots. Wood’s performance earned him the TNT post-game interview, which led to a fun time.
Hall of Fame and “Inside the NBA” host Shaquille O’Neal started his question by telling Wood that he wasn’t familiar with his game before Thursday, to which Wood replied, “Wow, you’re casual”, suggesting that Shaq doesn’t follow the game as closely as he should.
Wood is right to call Shaq on this one. After jumping back and forth between the G League and the NBA to begin his career, 6-10 Wood emerged last season as a member of the Detroit Pistons and became one of the most sought after free agents on the market before signing with o Rockets on a $ 41 million three-year contract. He entered the game on Thursday with an average of 22.6 points, 9.5 rebounds and 1.6 blocks in eight games this season, so this is certainly not a “Who Does He Play For?” situation.
Leaving aside the Wood-Shaq issue, this must be a stimulating feeling for the Rockets, who Harden said “just weren’t good enough” the night before his deal. You usually see a team that recently fired a coach or changed a superstar to go out on fire in the next game, but that energy usually dissipates around the third quarter. Houston continued all night, getting close performances from Sterling Brown (23 points, seven rebounds) and Jae’Sean Tate (13 points, 10 assists, five rebounds), while seeing solid contributions from newcomers Mason Jones and Kenyon Martin Jr. big sign that the Rockets managed to win, despite the relatively pedestrian performance of DeMarcus Cousins, who scored nine points in shots from 2 to 8, with all his attempts coming from behind the 3-point line.
Houston clearly made a move towards the future in Harden’s business, acquiring four unprotected future choices in the first round and four unprotected exchange options, but what they showed on Thursday suggests they may be able to remain relatively competitive with the drama of Harden now at the rear – rear view mirror. A core of Wall, Oladipo, Wood and Gordon is a solid foundation, along with Cousins and versatile players who play hard every night under coach Stephen Silas.
A new chapter started in Houston, and the poorly manned rockets set an impressive tone with a big win on Thursday.