Oh, to be a role-player on the Houston Rockets. There is no pressure to do anything; in fact, doing anything is actively discouraged. Just stand there while James Harden does his thing, maybe move around a bit if you’re feeling up to it, and wait until whatever gimmick defense the other team is using to defend him breaks down. If you get the ball, shoot it. If it goes in, great! If it doesn’t go in, well, there’s a lot of possessions in the typical NBA game.
At least, that sounds good to me. For some of these guys, who have spent most of their lives being the clear-cut best guy on the court, maybe being a wallflower doesn’t seem like the most fun thing ever.
That could be the reason that we saw Danuel House uncharacteristically (just realized how gosh-darn LONG that word is, we need some one to step in and make a new word that means the same thing but doesn’t take an hour to type out) take charge of his own destiny a couple times this game. That’s cool, and it helped him get 17 points, but he needs to remember that on the Rockets, the only person with a destiny under their own control is James Harden. And Russell Westbrook, begrudgingly.