(SportsRadio 610) -- When is Russell Westbrook going to play?
We know a quad strain is going to keep him out of game one, but what about after that?
As of late Monday night no one seems to know. Before Monday’s practice, Rockets head coach Mike D’Antoni said Westbrook would be undergoing an MRI “today or tomorrow,” but offered no other information.
Westbrook played in the Rockets' first three seeding games, but then missed four of their final five tune-ups. Unlike normal first rounds during normal postseasons, the Rockets will play every other day in this series, so time is of the essence.
Can the Rockets rely on winning the turnover battle?
It doesn’t matter how hard they try, the Rockets know they are going to get beat up on the boards.
They were a bad rebounding team when Clint Capela manned the middle and now that they are 100 percent committed to small ball they are even worse.
But they feel their style of play makes up for a lack of rebounding, and one of those ways is winning the turnover battle.
The Rockets are in the middle of the pack when it comes to avoiding their own turnovers over the last 22 games, but they are elite at forcing their opponents into giving the ball up.
Houston has forced a turnover on 17 percent of its defensive possessions since acquiring Robert Covington, which is the third-highest rate in the NBA, and that number jumped slightly to 17.4 percent in Orlando.
But can you rely on forcing turnovers against a team that doesn’t turn the ball over?
Oklahoma City only turned it over just 13.7 percent of the time during the regular season, which is the NBA’s seventh best turnover rate, and with Chris Paul on the floor, that number shrinks to 12.6 percent, so can the Rockets steal enough possessions to mitigate the issues they will have on the glass?
Can the Rockets contain OKC’s three guard lineup?
Six five-man lineups outscored opponents by at least 100 points in the NBA this season, but Oklahoma City’s five man unit of Paul, Dennis Schroder, Shai Gilgeous Alexander, Danilo Gallinari, and Steven Adams did so in the fewest number minutes. That lineup was +126 in only 177 minutes. For context, of the other five lineups to post a plus/minus of over 100 points none logged fewer than 280 minutes together, and only one played less than 400 minutes.
And with Chris Paul on the floor, that number shrinks to 12.6 percent. So can the Rockets steal enough possessions to mitigate the issues they will have on the glass?
Can the Rockets contain OKC’s three guard lineup?
Six five-man lineups outscored opponents by at least 100 points in the NBA this season, but Oklahoma City’s five-man unit of Paul, Dennis Schroder, Shai Gilgeous Alexander, Danilo Gallinari, and Steven Adams did so in the fewest minutes.
That lineup was +126 in only 177 minutes. For context, of the other five lineups to post a plus/minus of over 100 points, none logged fewer than 280 minutes together, and only one played less than 400 minutes.
The key for that group is the three guards. Paul, Schroder, and Gilgeous-Alexander get to the rim at will.
All three average over 11 drives per game, led by Gilgeous-Alexander, who averages 16.4, tenth most in the NBA. Paul averages 12.8 while Schroder finished the regular season at 11.7, both among the 35 most in the league.
The Rockets finished the seeding games seventh in defensive rating, surrendering 109.1 points per 100 possessions, and were a top five defense before essentially taking the last three games off. But they still have problems keeping guards in front of them, and doing that will be vital in this series because Clint Capela isn’t back there to help out a guard who gets beat off the dribble.
The Rockets cannot win this series if they cannot slow down a lineup that outscored teams by almost 30 points per 100 possessions.
Is Eric Gordon back?
Gordon may be the most important Rocket in this series. With Westbrook shelved for at least the first game, the Rockets will need his offensive jolt.
He’s a threat both with the ball and without it, so just having him on the floor with James Harden makes the Rockets offense better, and in the 8-10 minutes the Beard is off the floor Gordon is more than capable of running Mike D’Antoni’s offense.
Remember, the guy scored 50 on the road in a game that Harden and Westbrook missed.
As important as he is offensively, his contributions at the other end may matter more.
Did you see Donovan Mitchell go off for 57 points against the Nuggets on Monday afternoon? With Gordon as his primary defender in last year’s playoffs, Mitchell averaged 21 points per game on 32 percent shooting in a five-game series loss to the Rockets.
Gordon is a great defender who, because of his size, can handle anyone, but he hasn’t played more than three games in a row since the beginning of February. The Rockets can win this series without Westbrook, but they can’t do it without Gordon.