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A few days ago things were wrong awesome for the Houston Rockets, but they were probably doing as well as they ever will this season. The team had just beaten the Orlando Magic by 32 points to reduce their record to 3-4, and the next day James Harden – who, in case you missed it, went through a saga of very public and public demand. embarrassing this season. – at the very least admitted there were some positives about these Rockets, and at best acknowledged the possibility of a future in Houston.
James Harden: “We have a lot of work to do. I think every team thinks that way … we just haven’t had the opportunity to work together very often. As long as we keep finding chemistry , finding the beat on both ends of the floor, we had the chance to do something special. ” #Rockets
– Alykhan Bijani (@Rockets_Insider) January 9, 2021
Even after losing their next game to the Lakers, things weren’t too bad. The team was still close to .500, and on the in-game day, Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer reported that the front office “was increasingly confident that Harden would be content to stay at least for the rest of the game. season, ”although he also wrote that“ sources say Harden always prefers to be treated.
Then … well, then the Lakers came along. Or more specifically, the Lakers at the height of their power have happened. The Rockets never had a single lead on Tuesday, and the Lakers pushed the deficit to 30 at one point in a game that was realistically over at halftime. Los Angeles basically spent 48 minutes clowning around for the team they just pulled out of the playoffs.
After the match, Harden no longer spoke of “a chance to do something special”.
James Harden: “I love this city. I literally did everything I could. This situation is crazy. I don’t think it can be fixed. Thank you.”
He left the podium.
– Alykhan Bijani (@Rockets_Insider) January 13, 2021
“I love this city. I literally did everything I could. This situation is crazy. This is something I don’t think can be fixed. Thank you.”
—James Harden on the Rockets pic.twitter.com/LcPLn09TgE
– SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) January 13, 2021
So, to recap, the Lakers have won their last six games against the Rockets, four of them in a row in the playoffs, and now – after beating a Houston team, people actually thought they got a shot against them so badly in the playoffs. playoffs that Harden left the organization where he won his only MVP award and spent most of his career – they crushed them so well in two regular-season games that Harden went from saying positive things to retiring. at press conferences while his teammates shoot him in the media.
I asked John Wall how he would rate his on-pitch partnership with James Harden across 9 games:
“I think it was a little hard, I can’t lie about it. I don’t think it was the best it could be, to be honest. That’s all I could really say. ” #Rockets
– Alykhan Bijani (@Rockets_Insider) January 13, 2021
John Wall: “Like I told everyone tonight when guys 1-15 are all on the same page and they engage … it’s going to be fine. But when you have some guys in the mix who don’t want to buy as such, it’s going to be hard to do something special as a basketball team … it hurts. “
– Alykhan Bijani (@Rockets_Insider) January 13, 2021
John Wall: “If we can all be on the same page, we can be something good here. We can’t dwell on it because it’s only been 9 games. Come on, man. the cliff. over 9 games? There’s still a lot of basketball to play. ” #Rockets
– Alykhan Bijani (@Rockets_Insider) January 13, 2021
So, in case you were wondering how exhausting it is to play against a Lakers team with locked versions of LeBron James and Anthony Davis, it looks like we have some empirical evidence that the answer is’ exhausting enough to implode. a team twice “or” demoralizing enough to take you from cautious optimism to a reignited tire fire. “
I mean, good for the Lakers, but Houston, you officially have a problem. Again. Sorry about that.
For more Lakers talk, subscribe to the Silver Screen and Roll podcast on itunes, Spotify, Stitcher or Google podcasts. You can follow Harrison on Twitter at @hmfaigen.
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