Monday, January 22nd at Houston
The Houston Rockets officially entered the realm of the league’s juggernauts this offseason, acquiring Chris Paul from the Los Angeles Clippers.
Pairing the league’s best floor general with MVP runner-up James Harden is going to be a very difficult matchup to defend.
These Rockets already boasted one of the league’s most potent offenses without Paul, and Harden can now shift back to his natural position of shooting guard.
With Sixth Man of the Year Eric Gordon coming off the bench to go with a supporting cast that features Trevor Ariza, Nene, Ryan Anderson, Clint Capela, and a stout defender in Luc Mbah a Moute, Miami is no doubt going to have its hands full come time for this matchup.
Why so big, you ask?
It’s the middle of the season, all teams are expecting to be clicking on all cylinders as the All Star break approaches. It doesn’t get any more competitive than that.
This will be the perfect chance for this Heat team to prove to everybody that it can hang with the league’s best, and I think that by this time, most teams will begin to take Miami seriously.
While it definitely will not be easy, a victory on Houston’s home floor in front of a national audience would just bolster this team’s confidence in a huge way.
Miami proved it could hang with the Rockets last season, and this year should be no different.