Ben DuBose

Now, they had the big win in Denver.

They came back from 16 down against the Spurs.

I guess for me, I'm just thinking, can the Rockets get to the front of that group right behind Oklahoma City?

And then let's worry about Oklahoma City come April.

That's my viewpoint right now.

And so if you look at it through that prism,

I'm taking what we're seeing, particularly from the X-Factors, as a positive sign that even if the Rockets aren't the two-seed right now, maybe they do eventually get to the front of the line.

Even if they're not the two-seed in name, perhaps the Steven Adams injury cost them there.

They can be the second-best team by the time we get to the playoffs.

Does that make sense?

That's a good question.

I'm still leaning this year's team because I don't trust last year's team to generate offense when it matters most.

And I just don't think you're beating the Thunder four times out of seven without getting some big buckets late in games.

Now, I guess you can point out that Fred Van Fleet hit some grenades against the Thunder last year, and so maybe that's an option.

But I think your point is valid in totality in that just from a matchup standpoint, I

I think last year's team would give the Thunder more headaches.

But in terms of actually beating them four times out of seven, it's unlikely in both cases.

But I would prefer the version that has Kevin Durant and Reed Shepard just because I think there's more shot-making upside late in games.

And I will say, I'm hopeful that as Dorian Finney-Smith scales up and Tari Eason comes back from his ankle injury, you're going to have a lot more in terms of versatile wings.

You're going to try Jabari at the five.