The Washington Wizards won out in a high-scoring overtime thriller the last time they squared off against the Houston Rockets. With both teams among the most explosive in the league, Wednesday night in Houston looks to be no different.
When Wizards and Rockets met in Washington on November 26, both were still trying to find their footing after a rocky start. The Wizards were 7-12 and the Rockets had just made it to .500 at 9-9, a far cry from making it within a game of the NBA Finals last season. In a 135-131 overtime victory, the eruption of dueling backcourts made history.
When all was said and done, John Wall and Bradley Beal put up 36 and 32 points, respectively. Not to be outdone, Eric Gordon filled in nicely for the injured Chris Paul with 36 points of his own, but it was James Harden who stole the show. The reigning MVP finished with 54 points, 8 rebounds, and 13 assists.
The combined 158 points was the highest-scoring game by starting backcourts in NBA history, according to ESPN; Harden and Gordon finished second for starting guards on the same team.
Less than a month later though, not much as changed for either team in terms of their standing. The Rockets are still hovering around .500 and outside of the playoffs, although only by .5 games. The Wizards are still more or less in the same hole, needing several games to get them back to a winning record and into the playoffs.
The Rockets come in to Wednesday riding a win streak of four games, all over Western Conference teams in the playoff mix (Portland Trail Blazers, Los Angeles Lakers, Memphis Grizzlies, and Utah Jazz). The Wizards, on the other hand, have dropped five of their last six, including Tuesday night’s loss to the Atlanta Hawks.
Let’s take a look a three questions that could determine tonight’s match-up.