A week that began with the Rockets seeming unbeatable ended with nothing James Harden able to do – and he did more in consecutive games than any Rockets player ever has – enough.
The loss to the Lakers might have been tough to take, but after 14-consecutive wins, the Rockets could consider it a blip on the way to bigger and better things.
When they lost to the Clippers, playing with five rotation players out, the Rockets not only wasted consecutive 51-point games from Harden, they took a 128-118 loss that seemed to indicate more is suddenly wrong than the key injuries.