The Houston Rockets have played two preseason games so far. What are some impressions or takeaways from the early results?

The Houston Rockets have completed the first two preseason games on their schedule as they prepare for the 2017-18 regular season. However, only one of those game was against NBA competition, so the results and performances must be taken with a grain of salt.

Let’s analyze some aspects of the Rockets’ 104-97 victory against the Oklahoma City Thunder this past week.

This was the first time everyone got a look at the Chris Paul–James Harden backcourt pairing in a NBA game, so it’s safe to say there was some intrigue behind this one. And that’s without mentioning that the Thunder were also trotting out a new star duo in Carmelo Anthony and Paul George (Russell Westbrook didn’t play in the game).

Paul posted 11 points, seven assists and two steals in 24 minutes, hitting two of his five 3-point attempts (which were his only shot attempts). Harden struggled with his shot (5-of-16 from the field) but was able to post 16 points, 10 assists, five rebounds and three steals in 29 minutes of action.

For the most part, the duo looked very comfortable switching between handling the ball and playing off-ball. Paul in particular was tremendous leading the offense, whipping cross-court passes to open shooters and throwing behind-the-back bounce passes on the run.

In the below video, keep your eyes on the passes Paul makes at the 2:00 mark, the 2:22 mark, the 2:43 mark and the 5:14 mark. If those don’t get you excited to watch the Rockets’ offense on a nightly basis, nothing will.

Another really nice play involving both guards occurred at 3:51 in the above video, as Paul handed the ball off to Harden, who proceeded to run a pick-and-roll with Clint Capela. Because the defense was so preoccupied with guarding the shooters on the opposing wing as well as the pick-and-roll itself, Harden found a wide open Paul behind him for a 3-pointer.

Plays like that shed light on how devastating Houston’s offense can be this season in a variety of ways.

Another aspect of the game that was impressive was the defense from P.J. Tucker and Luc Mbah a Moute. Tucker consistently bothered Anthony, and ended his 23 minutes of play with a steal and two blocks. Mbah a Moute not only played quality defense, but also hit two of his three 3-point attempts, a key aspect of his offensive game to watch throughout the season.

Based of these early preseason results, Eric Gordon could be in for a career year from beyond the arc. Gordon hit six of his eight attempts in the win against the Thunder and followed it up by hitting five of eight attempts in the win against the Shanghai Sharks.

Ultimately, the Rockets hit 24 3-pointers in the game and were comfortably up by double digits when the regular rotation players checked out in the third quarter. The two wins were impressive performances that may have calmed some doubters, but Houston (and specifically the star backcourt) must continue to show good chemistry throughout the rest of the preseason and in the early regular season games.

It’s when the going gets tough throughout the season that we will get a true sense of the team’s chemistry and the success of the star backcourt — though it doesn’t hurt that the team has started off the preseason with impressive performances through good shooting, offensive flow and early chemistry.