Houston Rockets: This Year’s Dark House Contender

Taking a look at the future odds, which will be closing soon, over at Bovada and the big favorites to win are hugely favored.  Here are the teams with the best odds:

Miami Heat  

2/1

San Antonio Spurs

3/1

Oklahoma City Thunder

4/1

Indiana Pacers

6/1

Los Angeles Clippers

9/1

After the Clippers the odds bump all the way up to 20/1 and go all the way to 250/1 for the likes of the Atlanta Hawks and Charlotte Bobcats.  In other words, there is a pretty clear front running pack in the odds.  However, is there a team this year that could surprise us all and make deeper runs that predicted?

Looking at the teams in the playoffs that are not listed among the top odds to win and only one team looks like a championship squad and that is the Houston Rockets.

The Rockets have their “big three” and they are a good all-around team.  However, they have yet to cross the threshold from good to great in most people’s eyes.

Five years ago Dwight Howard carried the Orlando Magic into the NBA Finals. His legacy was a bit tarnished in some people’s mind after is debacle-like stint with the Los Angeles Lakers.  Now he finds himself on a team, surrounded by young and hungry talent.  He no longer has to go it alone and one thing has been clear this season, the Rockets have chemistry, unlike what Howard experienced in LA.

All I want to do is win. That’s the only thing that matters to me. If we win, then everything falls into place. I can’t control how people feel. I can’t control any of that stuff, so that’s not my focus. People are going to say whatever they’re going to say about me, say I’m not playing as great or they don’t talk about me as much. But that’s fine. All you have to do is win. When you win games, nobody can say anything. So that’s the only thing I’m going to do.

-Dwight Howard

Howard knows winning an NBA Championship will make the world forget the issues he had with the Lakers and truly begin his legacy.

Is that chemistry strong enough to carry them past the dynamic Portland Trail Blazers and then their likely opponents in the West, OKC and San Antonio? That remains to be seen, but if I was putting my money on an underdog, it would be the Houston Rockets.