The NBA schedule was released Thursday and while you can start to make travel plans, here's 10 games we think might interest you with the Houston Rockets.
1. Atlanta at Houston, Feb. 2, 2017
The Rockets will play former center Dwight Howard twice with his new team, the Atlanta Hawks. Houston visits Atlanta on Nov. 5, as part of a four-games-in-nine-days road trip. Howard makes his return to Houston in February. The ending for Howard wasn’t pleasant. He wasn’t a bad guy and should be cheered by Rockets fans when he returns to the Toyota Center.
2. Houston at Phoenix, Dec. 21
Mike D’Antoni has coached at several places, but he’s had more success in the NBA with the Phoenix Suns, where in five seasons he complied a 253-136 record with 51 postseason games. The Rockets make their first visit to the Valley of the Sun on the back end of a back-to-back. Houston will host the San Antonio Spurs on Dec. 20.
3. Houston at Golden State, Dec. 1
Golden State has eliminated Houston from playoff contention the past two seasons -- in the Western Conference finals in 2015 and in the first round in 2016. Houston suffered an embarrassing loss to the Warriors, without Stephen Curry, on New Year’s Eve. Kevin Durant is a Warrior now and with the Super Team moniker being thrown around, the Rockets have taken notice. James Harden has said there’s only one ball to go around and team owner Leslie Alexander said the Warriors have to guard the Rockets, too.
4. Houston at Dallas, Oct. 28
It’s the first meeting between Interstate 45 rivals. There’s no love lost between Mavs owner Mark Cuban and Rockets GM Daryl Morey. There is a mutual respect and the trash talk has settled down in recent years, but it’s still Dallas and it’s still Houston. It’s still a rivalry.
5. Los Angeles Clippers at Houston, Dec. 30
Nothing like seeing one of your rivals just before New Year's. The Rockets changed the core of their roster in the offseason, but the Clippers' core, led by Chris Paul and DeAndre Jordan, is still around. They remember losing a 3-1 lead to the Rockets in the conference semifinals two years ago, and Harden, an L.A. native, has struggled against the Clips. He’s averaging just 17.2 points per game and shooting 37.8 percent from the field in 24 career games. Yet, in the first meeting between the teams last season, Harden scored 46 points, then added 33 in the last meeting between the teams.
6. Houston at San Antonio, Nov. 9
There are two teams Rockets fans can’t stand: the Mavericks and the Spurs. Something about the Riverwalk gets people riled up down in Houston. It’s the first of consecutive games in the same week between these two division opponents. The Spurs don’t have Tim Duncan anymore. The Rockets don’t have Dwight Howard. Things have changed.
7. Houston vs. New Orleans, Dec. 16
A pair of former New Orleans Pelicans, Ryan Anderson and Eric Gordon, left the team to sign free-agent deals with the Rockets in the offseason. A fresh start for both. Now the pair face their former team in the first of four meetings.
8. Houston at Oklahoma City, Nov. 16
It’s an early-season meeting between two teams looking to prove themselves. Houston’s offseason additions, Anderson, Nene Hilario and Gordon, are expected to move them up in the West. Losing Durant is supposed to hurt the Thunder, but Russell Westbrook is still here. Steven Adams is feisty and physical in the paint. Can Clint Capela and Hilario handle the interior?
9. Houston vs. Memphis, Jan. 13
Chandler Parsons returns to Houston. Well, he has done it several times when he left the Rockets in free agency for Dallas. But Parsons returns with assistant coach J.B. Bickerstaff, who took over for Kevin McHale as Rockets interim head coach, in early November. Bickerstaff pushed the Rockets to the postseason, as the eighth seed, leading to a first-round exit. Parsons left kinda bitter at the Rockets, who weren’t going to pay him big money on the open market. Parsons had a somewhat messy divorce in Dallas, too, when yet another team elected not to give him what he thought he was worth. Memphis did, and we appear to have a great marriage.
10. Houston at Los Angeles Lakers, Oct. 26
It’s the season opener and with Kobe Bryant retired, and the Lakers debuting a new coach in Luke Walton, this will be a youthful team looking to play more competitively. Oh yes, it’s the return of Mike D’Antoni to Lakerland. He spent two difficult seasons in Los Angeles dealing with Howard, Bryant and a broken down Steve Nash.
Click here for the Rockets' 2016-17 schedule.
