How will they fare? The Phoenix Suns vs the Southwest Division
By Adam Maynes
Southwest Division
Houston Rockets
One would figure that when a team loses a superstar point guard like Chris Paul that they are going to take a serious step back (no pun intended, James Harden).
However, when you replace that point guard with another superstar in Russell Westbrook, there is likely not going to be much of a drop off overall (and I expect there to be multiple games this season in which both Westbrook and Harden achieve a triple-double, shattering records along the way).
Aside from the swap of Paul for Westbrook though, the Rockets are essentially the same team that they were last season, which just did not have the same spark it had two years ago when Trevor Ariza and Ryan Anderson were draining 3’s from all over the court making Paul and Harden’s collective jobs that much easier.
I too personally question if the Harden and Westbrook pairing is going to work, considering that they both need the ball more than any other two players in the league to be effective, and while Harden shot 36.8% from beyond the arc last season (on an astounding 13.2 attempts), Westbrook (although a career 31.1% 3-point shooter before last season), shot an awful 29.0% and cannot be trusted to chuck them up effectively in an offense that is predicated on chucking 3’s up.
Sure, the team is going to still have the fire power and stamina to outscore and outlast teams on a regular basis, and while I do not believe it will be enough to win a title, it will be enough to beat the Suns most of the time.
I say most of the time though because I do think that there will be a circumstance in which the Phoenix Suns can pull off at least one victory over the Houston Rockets next season breaking what is currently an 11-game losing streak.
As I noted in my Northwest prediction, teams in Conference do not play their non-Division opponents an equal number of times, and as we do not have this season’s schedule yet, I have to predict based on last season’s schedule in which Phoenix played Houston three times.
And while I believe that the two teams will meet four times this coming season, I do not know for sure, and thus will predict three once again.
As such: whenever they meet and depending upon variable such as injuries and back-to-backs (or someone like Devin Booker or Deandre Ayton having an incredible night and matching what the Rockets can throw at them), the Suns will beat Houston for the first time since April 7, 2016.