Houston Rockets & Oklahoma City Thunder Trade Plot Lines

The Houston Rockets and the Oklahoma City Thunder have swapped plot lines and losing streaks following the Rockets 110-105 victory over the Thunder last Monday night.

The Rockets laid an egg as the 2015 - 2016  NBA season tipped off with three straight 20-point losses to the Nuggets, Warriors and Heat. It was an NBA record for 20-point losses to start the season.

Here's how SB Nation's Tom Ziller typified the losing streak:

Abject disaster isn't a phrase with contextual meaning, like "hot mess." No one's best friend is never going to endearingly call them an "abject disaster" after downing a third drink at the bar. That phrase there means bad team is bad.

But the Rockets rebounded from this by passing the losing streak on to the Thunder with a JJ Watt assisted win on Monday. The Thunder started 3 - 0 and now find themselves with the same 3-3 record as the Rockets after additional losses to the Raptors and Bulls.

Here's a comparison of the headlines from the two losing streaks:

The Houston Chronicle

The Oklahoman

The point of this comparison? The NBA season is looooong. The Rockets' 0-3 start wasn't an "abject disaster." It was a slow start, just the same the current Thunder losing streak is "early-season struggles."

The Rockets and Thunder traded plot lines last Monday night. Neither story will last forever and we won't know the playoff trajectory of this season for a few more months.

All Rockets fans can hope for is getting Dwight Howard, Terrence Jones and Donatas Motiejunas on the court with James Harden, Ty Lawson and Trevor Ariza to see what Houston actually has brewing in the Toyota Center.