A black Christmas

The Houston Rockets are dying to forget their embarrassing Christmas day loss to the Golden State Warriors. It was an awful performance and they got dominated by the West’s last-place team, 116-104. They are now 21-10 on the season (10-4 at home).

The Rockets also lost in their first meeting with the Brooklyn Nets back in late October, 123-116, so they better play with a high level of urgency tomorrow.

James Harden (38.1 PPG), who got contained by the Dubs and only scored 24, should be in revenge mode, especially since he played terribly in that Nets loss as well. Though he got 36 points, he went 2-for-16 from three and only 10-for-31 overall.

As always, Russell Westbrook and Clint Capela will be right along Harden in doing most of the damage. Capela only played 20 minutes in that previous Nets encounter and logged just 10 points and four rebounds but note that it was early in the season and the Rockets were still figuring out the needed changes regarding Westbrook’s arrival. Russ, on the other hand, played well in that game, scoring 27 points on 12-for-25 shooting.

Reeling from an ugly loss

It’s not just a loss. The Nets, in front of their home crowd, laid a giant egg against the New York Knicks, 92-84, and even trailed by as much as 23. Yes, they were riddled by injuries but it was the East-bottoming, G-League-bordering, down-on-their-luck Knicks. What they put out there had clear shades of the days when they were the league’s whipping boys.

Following the defeat, the Nets fell to 16-14 on the season. Tomorrow is also beginning a three-game road trip (7-8 on the road), so the recovery period ought to come quick.

The silver lining on that forgettable game is that they are not going to have a worse night shooting the ball, at least not in the near future… hopefully. There’s just no way but up if you shoot 26.9%.

The Nets could also draw some confidence from their aforementioned win over the Rockets. The only problem, however, is they are missing two key players from that game due to injury – Kyrie Irving (shoulder) and Caris LeVert (thumb) – who’s also their top two scorers per game.

As such, Spencer Dinwiddie will be the main guy for the Nets. He’s averaging 26.1 points and 7.2 assists after taking over Irving’s spot. Taurean Prince is also someone to look out for as he tallied 27 points, 12 rebounds, and six three-pointers in the previous Rockets match-up.

PREDICTION:

The Rockets come alive and avenge their loss, 118-108.