Rockets Schedule Set For First-Round Matchup With Chris Paul, Thunder

Houston dealt Chris Paul and a pair of first-round picks to Oklahoma City in exchange for Russell Westbrook in July 2019.

The Rockets seed in the 2020 playoffs hasn't quite been determined ahead of Friday's game vs. Philadelphia, but we do know Houston's round one opponent. And a familiar face will lead the way against James Harden and Co.

Houston will face Chris Paul and the Oklahoma City Thunder in round one after two weeks of jockeying for playoff position. Both teams currently sit at 44–27, and with no home-court advantage in Orlando, each team's final seeding game is now inconsequential. Harden and the Rockets will take it easy on Friday night. The intensity will ratchet up when round one begins next week. 

So how do the Rockets stack up against their former point guard? Oklahoma City has actually seized the upper hand in the head-to-head matchup in 2019-20, going 2–1 against the Rockets. The Thunder turned in quite the impressive performance on Jan. 21 as they erased a double-digit second-half deficit in a 112-107 win at the Toyota Center. Perhaps no team has outperformed expectations quite like the Thunder in 2019-20. 

Harden will likely need to be in true MVP form to topple Oklahoma City, especially early in the series. Fellow MVP Russell Westbrook will miss at least the "first few games" of the first round, and his absence due to a strained quad could extend through the whole series, per the Houston Chronicle's Jonathan Feigen. The Rockets have engineered their roster to play to Westbrook's strengths. Can they survive without him? The answer will swing their playoff fate.

Game 1 vs. Oklahoma City is slated for Tuesday, Aug. 18. Tip-off is slated for 5:30 p.m. CT. You can find Houston's full schedule below: