Los Angeles Lakers: 3 Players to watch against Houston Rockets in Game 47

– Austin Rivers

One of the quietly good pickups this season has been the Houston Rockets getting Austin Rivers. Rivers was traded to the Phoenix Suns in the trade that sent Trevor Ariza to the Washinton Wizards. However, despite being a proven NBA player, the Suns never seemed to want Rivers, and he never played a game with them after the trade.

With Paul being out and the need for a point guard, the Rockets jumped on Rivers being available. Almost instantly, Rivers worked his way into the rotation, and he has been playing well for the Rockets.

So far this season in Houston, Rivers is averaging 13.3 points and is averaging a whopping 37.8 minutes per game. Since Mike D’Antoni runs a very tight rotation of 7 or 8 players, Rivers has been logging a ton of minutes at point guard for Houston.

Since joining Houston, Rivers has been shooting the ball very well in a somewhat decent sample size. While Harden gets a majority of the work for the Rockets in the backcourt, the Lakers can’t sleep on an improved Rivers.