Thunder Finishes Road Trip At Rockets

The Thunder wraps up its three-game road trip in Houston tonight against the red-hot Rockets, a 7:00 p.m. CT tip. It hasn’t been a pretty start to 2017 for OKC, losing two-straight to mediocre Eastern Conference foes.

Meanwhile, the Rockets have been on a tear, posting a 5-0 record and averaging 124.8 ppg since Christmas. They’re third in the West and 1.5 games back of second-place San Antonio.

James Harden is enjoying his new role as point guard of Mike D’Antoni’s run and gun offense. The eighth-year guard is averaging 28.4 points, 8.2 rebounds and a league-leading 11.9 assists.

He’s complemented by Eric Gordon, a leading candidate for the NBA’s Sixth Man award, who’s bringing 17.7 ppg off the bench and shooting 42.8 percent from deep. Gordon’s resurgence has been a gigantic part of Houston’s success this season. He leads the NBA in made threes and has D’Antoni and Harden calling him an All-Star.

Starting center Clint Capela has missed the past eight games with a fractured leg but reserve Montrezl Harrell has filled in admirably scoring in double figures in six of the last seven. Defensive specialist Patrick Beverley is questionable for tonight’s game with a right wrist sprain.

The Thunder has split a pair of games against Houston so far this season. Russell Westbrook is averaging 28.5 ppg, 8.5 rpg and 9.5 apg against the Rockets this season. Steven Adams and Enes Kanter should have an advantage against the smaller, more perimeter-oriented Rocket frontcourt. Oklahoma City hasn’t been out-rebounded since Dec. 17th against the Suns.