The Rockets' game on Friday against the Minnesota Timberwolves began a stretch in which center Clint Capela would go against top Western Conference centers of his generation.
After Capela, 23, faced Karl-Anthony Antony Towns, 22, the Rockets will play the Nuggets with Nikola Jokic, 23, and Jazz with Rudy Gobert, 25.
"Against them, especially, come hard because we're going to be playing against each other for a lot of years," Capela said. "There's a message that I send here when I play hard against them for the years in the future that if they play against me, it's going to be a battle.