The Houston Rockets traded Chris Paul to the Oklahoma City Thunder to pair James Harden with Russell Westbrook this season. The experiment had its ups and downs but with both at full strength, it looked like they were a legit dark horse out of the Western Conference.
Now, however, Westbrook is expected to miss at least a couple of playoff games with a quad injury, meaning Harden will have to face off vs. CP3 and the Thunder ‘on his own’.
Even so, the former MVP and 3-time Scoring champion claimed that he’s not going to change his mindest just because Westbrook isn’t able to play at the time. Moreover, he lauded the rest of his teammates but being able to step up and their ‘next-man-up mentality’:
“For me, nothing changes no matter who’s on the court,¿. My aggressive mentality no matter who’s on the floor. What’s missed is his ability to get to the basket, draw defenders in, and create opportunities for our team. Not only him but House, Eric is getting into his rhythm, P.J. didn’t play an entire game—it’s our entire group. We’re fully healthy, which we were these first few games, we’re a really dangerous team. We gotta get guys healthy and get them back on the court as soon as possible,” Harden told Kelly Iko of The Athletic.
Harden hasn’t missed a beat since the restart of the season, averaging 35.5 points and 8.2 assists per game on nearly 54% from the floor. Even so, the playoffs are a whole new different thing and the Thunder is going to be a tough rival for the Rockets given their grit, strength, size, and defense.
Hopefully, Westbrook will be ready at some point in the series and we’ll be both teams at full strength to see who won the trade once and for all.
