Except for certain fans who are chronically impatient, who want to see their team go 82-0, the feeling down here is that the Houston Rockets are just biding their time until the playoffs.
After two straight NBA championships, both in defiance of hordes of doubters, it's pretty clear that the Rockets expect to be still playing next June.Columnist Dale Robertson, writing in the Houston Chronicle, put it this way: "The next (game) is Utah on Thursday. A Big Game, if there can be such a thing in November. Honestly, that's the hardest part for the Rockets. When you've been where they've been and done what they've done, you only want to dispense with the prelims and get to the main event. In private, they're counting the days until June."
Not always in private, either. Rockets forward Robert Horry, asked if Houston is thinking three-peat, said, "We've got the chemistry to do it. No team in the league is closer."
The Jazz, meanwhile, are handing out all the usual stuff about this being just another game in a long season, which it is, but it's hard to believe that somewhere deep in their collective subconscious, there doesn't lurk a little resentment about their two straight playoff ousters at the hands of the Rockets.
"It would be hard for them not to think about that," said Jazz assistant coach Gordon Chiesa.
The Jazz, 11-4, are a half-game behind the Rockets in the Midwest Division race and would move into first place with a win at the Summit.
The Rockets, however, are unbeaten (5-0) at home and off to another sizzling start, at 11-3 - giving them a combined record for the past three Novembers of 35-6.
"When you come off a championship, your confidence is sky-high, and it carries over," said the Rockets' Mario Elie.
The Houston lineup has changed only slightly since the Jazz were here last spring. The key addition is backup (for now) power forward Mark Bryant, from Portland. He, starter Chucky Brown and Pete Chilcutt will be willing to use all their fouls to keep the Jazz's Karl Malone from having a big night in the low post.
The big change in the Houston attack occurred when it acquired Clyde Drexler from Portland last season. The Rockets like to post up Drexler down low, from which position he can score or pass. He leads this team in assists. Drexler ran amok against the Jazz in the playoffs, which is one of the chief reasons Utah acquired Chris Morris. In his one game as a Rocket last season against Morris and the Nets, Drexler missed 15 of 20 shots.
The Jazz's major challenge, of course, will be to contain Hakeem Olajuwon. The Rockets' center averaged 36.8 against Utah in the regular season last year, shooting 53.8 percent from the field. Felton Spencer isn't necessarily the answer, either; he faced Olajuwon just once last season, fouling out in 12 minutes of a game in which the Rocket star scored 37. Olajuwon is off to something of a slow start, for him, after coming into camp weighing 267, some 11 pounds over his regular playing weight in recent seasons. He's averaging 21.1 points, 6.7 below his average last year, and shooting 49.4 percent, and he's never shot below 50 in a season.