The Houston Rockets and Oklahoma City Thunder will give a preview of what the Western Conference playoffs could look like as they face off on Tuesday night. The Rockets are playing their best basketball of the season while the Thunder have dropped two straight games. As Houston aims to move up in the standings before the postseason, they hope to capitalize on a recent slump of the conference's top team.
James Harden helped extend the Rockets' win streak to five straight games as the team beat the Portland Trail Blazers on Sunday night in overtime. Harden had 41 points in the come-from-behind win, including 17 in the fourth quarter alone. The Rockets overcame a 12-point deficit to beat Portland. That finished off a week where Houston beat both the Miami Heat and Indiana Pacers, topping the Eastern Conference.
The Rockets have the momentum right now. The team is averaging 111.0 points during their win streak while shooting 48.9 percent overall. Currently sitting third in the conference, the team is aware that beating the Thunder would help their chances to get ahead of the San Antonio Spurs who sit 2 ½ games ahead of them.
The Thunder have hit a down period in the season. The team have lost two straight and five of their last eight since returning from the All-Star break. Things got ugly when they lost to the struggling Lakers as Kevin Durant put up a triple-double and Serge Ibaka added a double-double to the mix. The scoring did not matter as the team failed to match the production on defense. Allowing the Lakers to put up 114 points comes after they allowed 128 points against Phoenix.
Harden has struggled when facing the Thunder since getting traded. Oklahoma City is 8-3 against Houston since the deal which included beating them in the first round of the playoffs last year. Durant has exceled against Houston, putting up 34.5 points against the team this season.
