The surging Oklahoma City Thunder (3-0) will travel to Houston on Monday to take on the Rockets (0-3), who continue to search for the first win of their young season.
After both Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant went off for 40-plus points in Friday's thrilling double-overtime win over the Orlando Magic, the two stars dialed back the throttle a bit in Sunday's win over the Nuggets. With Oklahoma City up 25 points entering the fourth quarter of the game, both Westbrook and Durant finished with less than 30 minutes of action, enabling Serge Ibaka to take on a more focal role. Ibaka collected 18 points, seven rebounds, four assists, and five blocks. He'll look to keep it going against a Rockets squad that's banged up in the frontcourt.
Houston enters the game with questionable statuses for starters Terrence Jones (face) and Dwight Howard (back), while Donatas Motiejunas (back) remains out indefinitely. That could end up resulting in second-year man Clint Capela and rookie Montrezl Harrell assuming heavy minutes loads, in addition to coach Kevin McHale deploying more small-ball lineups. The injuries appear to be taking their toll on the Rockets, as they've lost each of their three games by 20 points. Further compounding the problem is the fact that James Harden hasn't been able to find his shooting stroke through three games. After a 2-for-15 outing in Sunday's loss to the Heat, Harden is shooting just 22.2 percent from the field and is averaging 18 points per game — a nine-point drop from 2014-15.
