On the second night of a Back2Back, and the second of three games in four nights you might expect a loss. Being without James Harden, Russell Westbrook and Clint Capela, you’d assume it.
For a bit of perspective, the Rockets are a “top heavy” team in that most of their salary is concentrated in a very few players, and they were without $94 million in player salary, or 65% of their total payroll in the three missing starters.
In still other terms, the Rockets were without their top three scorers (yes Capela is currently #3).