Houston Rockets (1-13) vs. OKC Thunder (5-8) November 17, 2021, 7:00 p.m. CT

Location: Paycom Center, Occupied North Texas

Tickets again as low as $2! $2! That’s cheaper than the cheapest drink at Starbucks! For an NBA (in theory) basketball game.

TV: AT&T SportsNet

Radio: SportsTalk790

Online: Rockets App

Thunder Former Kiwi Support Group SB Nation Blog: Welcome To Not As Loud As It Used To Be City

Projected Starting Lineups

Rockets: Hopefully Josh Christopher, Jalen Green, Jae’Sean Tate, Christian Wood Set A Damn Pick, Daniel Theis I’m Afraid

Thunders: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander IX, Luguentz (Don’t call me Lugg.) Dort, Josh Giddey with excitemnt, Darius Baizley, Inventor of Paisley, Jeremiah Robinson-Earl of Kent

OUT: Derrick Favors No Man, Eric Gordon’s Groin Would Like To Be Elsewhere, Soon, Please, Kevin Porter Jr.

Don’t look now, it’s another Rockets game!

Yes, the Rockets visit the only team they’ve defeated, the team that owns the Los Angeles Lakers, the OKC Thunder.

The Thunder are supposedly diving for the bottom, just like the Rockets, but their assets keep winning games. Mostly against the Lakers.

In the Thunder tradition of eschewing nearly everything for being either tall and very, very, skinny, or tall and very athletic, we’ll see 2021 NBA draft pick Josh Giddey for the Thunder. The Thunder also feature a number of fairly established NBA players in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, LuDort, and I guess, Darius Baizley. This is important because established NBA players, even if they’re flawed, or not that great, or whatever, tend to be better than rookies.

The Rockets really need to figure out some rotations that work, and they really need to stop challenging the 1976 NBA season for the turnover record. Maybe there are some simple actions they can install, where a player will be at a predictable place? Just some confidence from not throwing the ball away all the time, not having to defend in transition quite so much, would help.