HOUSTON (SportsRadio 610)- Over the course of the four plus seasons they were teammates with the Rockets, James Harden and Eric Gordon found themselves on opposite sides. Harden led the team's starting unit, while Gordon was often times the leader of the bench group, so it led to the two squaring off quite often.
"We did a good amount," Gordon recalled Tuesday. "But (Mike) D'Antoni, we didn't practice as much all the time, but during those training camps we did get after it, and it was always good and competitive."
Gordon will get after it for real on Wednesday, when Harden and the Brooklyn Nets make their only visit to Toyota Center during the regular season. A championship contender, Brooklyn enters the game with the best record in the Eastern Conference, and Gordon says it would mean a lot to get a win against a team of that quality.
"They got a lot of good players on that team, so they definitely know what it takes, and they're a championship caliber team, so for us to get one on them is for sure meaningful."
Winners of six in a row, the Rockets will enter Wednesday's game as the hottest team. The streak started with wins over Chicago and Charlotte, but the level of competition has fallen off since. That won't be the case on Wednesday, but it doesn't mean they won't approach like any other game.
"We try to approach every game with a winning mindset," Rockets forward Jae'Sean Tate said. "Our whole goal is to keep the streak going, and we had a pretty good day today, and we'll have a pretty good shootaround and get ready for the game tomorrow."
Extending the win streak to seven games is front and center on the minds of Tate and his teammates, but for the people watching, Harden return to Toyota Center will take precedence. Wednesday will be his second visit since the January trade that sent him to Brooklyn, but there were only 3,600 people in the stands that night in March. There will be a lot more on Wednesday.
"He's done so much for the city, and I'm sure it's gonna be a packed house," Tate said. "It is anytime it comes to town, so the atmosphere is gonna be a great one, and I'm excited for it."
Two weeks ago, the Rockets were 1-16 and losers of 15 in a row, so no one would've given them a chance to beat a 17-7 team, especially with starting guards Jalen Green and Kevin Porter Jr unavailable due to injury, but the Rockets are only six-point underdogs for this game, and there is a great deal of confidence that they can win it.
"We've been playing well," Rockets head coach Stephen Silas said. "Going into this game against a good team, playing well is good for us. They play against Dallas (Tuesday), and then they come in here on a back-to-back so, I feel good about our chances."
