Can Houston's surging offense and elite rebounding halt Nikola Jokic's dominance? This pivotal Western Conference clash promises fireworks.
On Wednesday, March 10 the Houston Rockets (40-24) will face the Denver Nuggets (39-26) for the first time since the New Year at Ball Arena. Houston comes in sitting at third in the Western Conference with Detroit currently at number six.
In their last meeting in December, the Rockets put the Nuggets to bed 115-101 in which Houston outscored Denver 27-16 in a second quarter surge that the Nuggets never fully recovered from.
It was also Reed Sheppard's best night at that point in the season with 6 made threes at 66.7-percent shooting, going 9-for-15 from the floor, while Durant booked a 31-point night.
The key difference for Wednesday night’s matchup- the Rockets are down Steven Adams, who contributed 15 rebounds including five offensive grabs. Houston has made some adjustments to their rotations since then, and have nabbed several wins without him, but the missing brute force inside has certainly been felt since his January injury.
However, the Rockets are also up another key guy: Tari Eason who has looked more and more like himself with every game as of late.
The Nuggets walk into their home stadium Wednesday night hungry for a win after a 142-103 blowout loss to the Knicks on Friday followed by another loss on Monday night to the Thunder 129-126. They’ll have both the home court and rest advantage, as the Rockets enter on the second-night of a back-to-back.
Houston is coming off a much needed 113-99 win Tuesday night at home versus the Raptors, after being dominated by the Spurs 145-120 on Sunday. The Rockets had something to prove, and they did.
Defense kept star shooter Brandon Ingram to just nine points all night, while Houston’s offense shot lights out from three at just under 42-percent. The key to the night: rebounds. According to the NBA Box Score postgame stats, the Rockets outrebounded the Raptors 52-30, including 15 offensive rebounds that generated several second-chance points.
Even without Adams owning the paint, the Rockets remain the No.1 rebounding team in the league.
What to watch for tonight: points in the paint, specifically coming from Nikola Jokic, who’s contributed anywhere from 22 to 40 points in his last five games. It’ll be a difficult task to contain the star shooter and will certainly require doubles that could leave other shooters open.
The good news is I see the same happening on the other end of the court with plenty of doubles covering Alperen Sengun and Kevin Durant, granting kickout opportunities to shooters like Jabari Smith Jr. and Reed Sheppard.
All in all, this game matters for the Rockets if they want to keep their conference standing. It’ll be one of the more important games of the season, so the margin for error tonight is extremely thin. If Houston can control the glass like they did against Toronto, they might be a shoo-in. Although, most sportsbooks are projecting a Denver victory pre-tipoff.
But I see this one going either way, depending solely on the Rockets ability to protect the ball, keeping turnovers to a minimum, and dominating the boards.