Almost exactly one year ago, the Houston Rockets and Houston Texans were flying high.
The Texans, riding QB Deshaun Watson, had squeezed out an overtime wild card win over the Bills on Jan. 4. Eight days later, they took a stunning 21-0 lead in the division round against the favored Chiefs.
The Rockets, behind star James Harden's 32 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists, blasted the Wolves 139-109 on Jan. 11, 2020 — improving to 26-12 on the season, among the best records in the West.
To understand where both stars — and franchises — are now perhaps requires a quick lesson in what happened next a year ago:
Watson's Texans blew that lead to the eventual Super Bowl champion Chiefs in spectacular fashion, managing to lose by 20 points (51-31) after leading by 21.