John Wall is the new Sheriff in Houston, and had some interesting points to make about his former teammate James Harden. After beating the Portland Trailblazers 104-101 for their fourth straight win, Wall explained why his team is playing so well.
“The team wasn’t where we wanted to be and we had people that didn’t want to be here,” Wall said after the game. “So it’s kind of hard to play through that. Once the trade happened, we got the team that we wanted and guys that wanted to be here.”
Although Harden was putting up huge numbers before leaving Houston, the team wasn’t playing well with a 3-6 record. Since Harden left, the Rockets are 5-3 and won the last four in a row.
Wall’s point is pretty simple—that their inability to succeed as a team was because Harden didn’t want to be there mentally. Now that they’re a cohesive unit without him, the sky is the limit.
It also helps that Houston acquired Victor Oladipo from the Indiana Pacers in the blockbuster trade that sent away Harden. Oladipo was a rising star before getting injured for over a season, and now he’s finally starting to get back to his old ways.
With Wall, Oladipo, and young talent Christian Wood at the helm, the Houston Rockets might just make a strong push for the playoffs this season.
