This should be an easy road win for the Houston Rockets right? Not so fast. Houston, for whatever reason, always lose in Philadelphia. Even though the 76ers were terrible last season, they still managed to beat the Rockets. Since crushing Philly by an embarrassing 50 point lead in 2007, the Rockets have since then fallen 1-5 in 76ers-land and each of those games was against a Sixers squad worse than the Rockets. It has been a trend for Houston and this time they look to break the curse.
The Rockets are heading into the game with the best start in 18 seasons and are facing a rebuilding 76ers team who are still looking for their first win of the season. Led by James Harden and Dwight Howard, one of the most potent duo in the NBA, Houston (3-0) are once again on top of the NBA's highest scoring teams at 105.3 points per game while outscoring their opponents by 14.3 points. And the scary thing is, head coach Kevin McHale would like to see even more improvements on their offense.
"We have a lot of stuff to work on. The pace of our game is not where we want it, but we're getting stops and we're getting out and running," McHale said after Saturday's 104-90 win over Boston, per Yahoo Sports.
Philadelphia, meanwhile, lost its first three games of the season by a combined 42 points. The team was actually pretty good in the first three quarters in each of the three games but suddenly crumbled in the 4th. The 76ers shot a scorching hot 52.2 percent in Saturday's home opener against Miami but were outscored 27-13 in the fourth quarter of a 114-96 loss.
"Forty-eight minutes is a very long game for the group we have," coach Brett Brown said. "From an experience and resume perspective, navigating through 48 minutes of an NBA game is really difficult."
So is there any chance for Philadelphia to win this game? Apparently they have, according to a game preview by SB Nation:
As a kid, I always felt like the Rockets would be 82-0 if games ended after 3 quarters. If that were actually the case, the Philadelphia 76ers might be a pretty good team this year. In their opening game, the Sixers trailed by 5 heading to the fourth quarter and lost by 12 to Indiana. In their second game, they led the Bucks heading to the fourth quarter. The Sixers scored 7 points in the final frame and lost by 12. They trailed by 4 against Miami and lost by 18.
Will the Houston Rockets finally end the curse or will the Philadelphia 76ers get the upset win? We will soon find out when the two teams meet on Wednesday, November 13, 7:00PM (EST) at Wells Fargo Center, Philadelphia, PA.
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