Rockets center Christian Wood slipped the slightest of smiles just at the mention of Anthony Davis and the Lakers. No one needed to tell him who was up next on the schedule
The atmosphere will not be the same with most of Toyota Center to remain empty Sunday. The test remains.
“There’s a few games that I circled on the calendar,” Wood said. “Playing against him and the Lakers is definitely a game I circled. He’s a guy I watched previously, a majority of his moves. It’s going to be a fun matchup.”
For Wood, the matchup is personal. When Davis was in New Orleans, establishing himself among the NBA’s elite, Wood spent a month with the Pelicans, getting an up-close look at what it means to be best.
The Rockets, for very different reasons, can feel the same way.
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As they head into Sunday’s first look at the NBA champions since the Lakers booted them from the playoffs in a five-game romp that finished with a rush of routs, the Rockets can view the matchup as an early-season chance to measure where they are and where they want to be.
The Lakers ended last season’s delusions. When they did, the Rockets went from considering themselves contenders to a sense of how removed they remained. Upheaval immediately followed, with Mike D’Antoni stepping down as coach before the charter from Orlando, Fla., landed. Long-time general manager Daryl Morey followed. The roster was revamped. Stars Russell Westbrook and James Harden wanted out.
With home games against the Lakers on Sunday and Tuesday, the Rockets have a chance to put all that finally behind them. If nothing else, just as last season’s playoff series demonstrated how far removed they were from the top, this week’s regular-season meetings can show if they have narrowed the gap or what might still need to be done.
“It’s definitely early in the season, but these two games are going to show us where we’re at defensively and even offensively,” Wood said. “This is definitely going to be a test for us. I think guys are ready. We’re starting to come into our own.”
Harden, while saying the Rockets have the potential “to do something special” also said there was a long way to go.
“We’re heading in the right direction,” Harden said.
But more than as a test of progress since last postseason, Harden described the two meetings with the Lakers this week as valued regardless of other implications.
“It’s always exciting to play against one of the best teams,” Harden said. “It’s always that, whether we played them last year (in the playoffs) or not. The Lakers come to town, it’s exciting.”
The potential for the Rockets to measure the effectiveness of some of their changes is particularly available against the Lakers.
Even before becoming Rockets coach, Stephen Silas studied the video of the Rockets’ playoff series against the Lakers and, more specifically, examined how the Lakers double-teamed Harden. In contrast to the midseason traps, the Lakers came later in the shot clock and came from different places, dramatically slowing the Rockets’ offense.
Silas did not install an offense less dependent on Harden isos in the middle of the floor specifically to counter that. It was based on what he already believed. But it could work to combat that strategy, if the ball movement is there.
“I wouldn’t say necessarily it defeats it, but it allows you to attack it quicker,” Silas said. “Our goal is to attack defenses before they get set and attack them early in possessions, whether James has the ball bringing it up or he is off the ball and there’s some sort of action. I wouldn’t necessarily say it is because of what defenses were doing. It’s more of a philosophical belief.”
The Lakers could offer a chance to see how that is working. There have been signs of progress since the Rockets bogged down against the Mavericks, but they were inconsistent against the Pacers and did not face much resistance against the injury-depleted Magic.
The Rockets could use a measuring-stick game.
“It’s not too early in the season, but I would say at this point of the season, everything is kind of a test for us to see what kind of works for this group and what doesn’t necessarily work for this group,” Silas said. “What are the adjustments that need to be made? We haven’t been together long. We haven’t had this group on the floor for very many games. Every opportunity we can have to learn a coverage or a tactical thing that we’re doing, either offensively or defensively, is an opportunity to grow.”
Still, from Wood going against Davis, the holdover Rockets getting a first rematch with the Lakers or members of the retooled roster as a whole facing the team with the newest championship rings, meetings with Los Angeles bring import beyond one game each in the standings.
“It’s definitely a great game to see where we stack up, playing the defending champs … to see how the season’s going so far,” Rockets guard John Wall said. “This is a test to see where our team stands.”
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