They can win without him, and that will make all the difference as the season wears on.
As Kevin Durant missed two games tending to a personal matter, it was reasonable to fear that the Houston Rockets would revert to many of the bad habits that limited them last season in the absence of their star scorer, and, in some ways, they did.
Yet, the team still found a way to grind out two wins against good teams, the Phoenix Suns and the Golden State Warriors, and, in doing so, they fulfilled Durant's longtime wish as he nears the end of his career: to have a team around him who can support themselves when he is not necessarily at his best.