Tip-off: Tuesday, 8:00 p.m. ET
Line: NA, Total: NA

The Thunder will need to be at their absolute best in order to slow down Houston on Tuesday.

One of the most entertaining games of the NBA season was played on Saturday night, when the Houston Rockets downed the Boston Celtics by a 123-120 score in a primetime thriller. It was a showdown of two teams that were undefeated since the All-Star break, with the Rockets emerging unscathed thanks to unbelievably hot shooting in the fourth quarter. Houston gets two days off before its next game, a road contest in Oklahoma City. The Thunder saw a three-game winning streak (that came against three very bad teams) snapped on Saturday, when they fell 108-100 in Portland. It was not an insignificant loss given the extreme tightness of the Western Conference standings; as of Monday morning, Portland was third and OKC was seventh, with only one game separating them. Thunder-Rockets on Tuesday will be a rematch of the first-round playoff series that Houston won in five games, one of which saw Thunder PG Russell Westbrook shoot the ball 43 times. The teams have played only once this season, in Oklahoma City on Christmas, when the Thunder won 112-107.

A 6-for-18 outing from PG James Harden would seem not to bode well for the Rockets chances in a game in which the Celtics shot the lights out, but Harden powered through the unideal shooting performance to finish with a 26 points, seven rebounds, 10 assists and five steals to go along with a team-best plus-minus of plus-21 on the night. Leading the league in scoring by a significant margin (31.2 PPG) and third in assists (8.9 PPG), Harden looks like the runaway MVP favorite at this point in the season, especially if Houston can hold onto the No. 1 seed out West. The Rockets' real heroes on Saturday night, though, were SG Eric Gordon and SF Trevor Ariza. Gordon came off the bench to score 29 points on blistering 8-of-13 shooting (7-11 3PM), including some timely threes in the fourth quarter. Ariza was money in crunch time, as well, following up a late three with a steal and layup that took Houston from down three points to up two points in a 17-second span with just over a minute remaining. Ariza finished with 21 points. PG Chris Paul had a relatively quiet night with 15 points and seven assists, but played more minutes for the Rockets than anyone but Harden. He was out of the lineup when Houston played OKC on Christmas, and his presence in the lineup obviously offers a huge new component that the Thunder have to account for. C Clint Capela had eight points and 17 rebounds against the Celtics, and his role as rim-protector will be especially important against a Thunder team that likes to attack the basket. He had 19 points and 10 rebounds on Christmas.

Unsurprisingly, Thunder PG Russell Westbrook was the star of the show on Christmas, notching 31 points, six rebounds and 11 assists in the victory. While his usage rate isn't at the astronomical heights it saw last season, he's still second in the league in USG%—second only to Harden. He's also much closer to once again average a second consecutive season-long triple-double than some may realize, posting averages of 25.3 PPG, 9.7 RPG and 10.2 APG entering Tuesday night's tilt. Of course, the difference between last season and this one is obvious: The additions of SF Paul George and SF Carmelo Anthony have forced him to unload some of his burden. (With Victor Oladipo's new-found success in Indiana, one wonders whether Westbrook needed to carry all that weight in the first place.) George has been as good as advertised, hitting consistently from three (41.3%) and maintaining his status as an elite, versatile defender. He enters Tuesday having scored at least 20 points in four straight games. (Before that, he bombed against the Warriors with five points on 1-of-14 shooting.) Carmelo was notably (and rightly) absent from All-Star Weekend, and the potential remains for him to be a perfect role player for this team as a spot scorer. But the fact is he hasn't shot all that well, especially recently, and he's considered day-to-day after resting against the Blazers on Saturday. In addition to Chris Paul coming back for Houston, the other significant lineup difference from the HOU-OKC game on Christmas will be the absence of Thunder SG Andre Roberson, who was a serious candidate for Defensive Player of the Year before a devastating season-ending injury. His replacements—foremost among them SG Alex Abrines—aren't nearly up to the tasks he performed so well. C Steven Adams will go to war with Capela in what will be a battle of two of the West's best traditional big men.