Houston Rockets: What life will be like without James Harden

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Two things to watch

Two things to watch for with Harden on the shelf:

Chris Paul’s health/minutes: The guy was on a minutes restriction from an adductor strain before the double overtime game mere days ago. Can he now take over as the number-one option, along with the minutes that go hand-in-hand with that role, and avoid aggravating any of his prior injuries?

Eric Gordon’s usage: EG will have to run the show when Paul needs a breather. After a down

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November, Gordon’s three-point percentage shot up 6 percentage points to a very respectable 38.5 percent in December. He averaged nearly 20 points a game, opposed to 15.6 the month prior. Houston needs the December Gordon to hold the fort and avoid crazy collapses when CP3 heads to the bench, because as we’ve seen, Briante Weber is not the answer. Hopefully new signee Gerald Green can cushion some of the blow as well.

Besides, the real issue in the past two weeks has been the other side of the floor.

The Rockets are surrendering over 120 points a night in their past six contests. Now, double overtimes and an unconscious Kyle Kuzma and Austin Rivers are a part of that. Another part of it is injuries. Paul’s ball-stopping and Capela’s rim protection were severely missed.

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But with those two back and on the mend, it’s hard to imagine Harden’s hiatus will account for that same dip in defensive efficiency, especially with the potential return of Luc Mbah a Moute in the near future.

Let’s not panic just yet. After all, it’s better all these Houston Rockets injuries occur now than in April.

*Stats are from nba.com and basketball-reference.com unless otherwise noted.

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