Fox Sports 1 analyst Nick Wright sees the Houston Rockets as having a better shot to win the 2020 NBA title than the Los Angles Clippers.
As of now, the Rockets (40-24) and Clippers (44-20) are on course for a potential meeting in the second round in the playoffs. That could change after the final eight regular-season games at the NBA’s July restart, of course. But no matter what, it’s certainly a plausible series at some point.
Should that series happen, Wright appears ready to pick Houston. Here’s his reasoning, as told to Colin Cowherd:
I think they have the second-best chance of anyone of anyone in the West of winning the title, and nobody thinks that except me.
I think they’re a better team than the Clippers. I think they have more ways to beat you. I think if this ends up being a second-round matchup, Rockets-Clippers, that it’s a really tough matchup for the Clippers.
The Rockets’ weakness obviously is the lack of an interior rim defender, and the Clippers’ interior scorer is Ivica Zubac. So I’m not that worried about that.
The Rockets and Clippers split their four 2019-20 regular season meetings, with each team winning twice. The final game on March 5 was a bit alarming for the Rockets, in that the Clippers routed them in Houston — and that game came after Houston’s switch to a smaller lineup.
But Russell Westbrook attributed that result to a lack of intensity, and Austin Rivers recently indicated that he believes the Rockets can adjust.
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Wright also made the case that Houston could disproportionately benefit from the multi-month hiatus before the playoffs due to COVID-19, which could allow superstar guard James Harden to recharge. He said:
What I think could work for them, as far as the pause of the season, is what we’ve seen with Harden. Over the last six years, he has such a workload during the regular season that by the end of it and into the postseason, he wears down a bit. I think it’s a little overblown, but he wears down a bit.
Now you’ve got a three-month break, and Westbrook is there to take some of the pressure off him. Not mental pressure, but physical pressure of having to be the only generator of offense.
For all those reasons, I would rank the championship contenders as Lakers one, Bucks two, Rockets three. So yeah, I think they’re a contender. I don’t know if I’d pick them [to win it all]. But if you have two of the nine best players in basketball, you’ve got a shot.
Rockets GM Daryl Morey appeared on Wright’s own show earlier this week, and he made the case for Houston as a championship favorite.
“Two of the greatest players ever on our team, we should win this thing,” Morey said, referring to Westbrook and Harden.
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Led by All-Star forwards Kawhi Leonard and Paul George, the Clippers are currently the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference, trailing only the top-seeded Lakers (49-14). Meanwhile, the Rockets are tied for No. 5, but would be the No. 6 seed if the playoffs started today based on losing the head-to-head tiebreaker with Oklahoma City (40-24).
Given the tightly packed standings, Houston could finish anywhere from No. 2 to No. 7 once the final eight regular-season games are played.
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