Houston's pantry is almost full

The Rockets have the ingredients to compete at the highest level right now. Things just need to simmer a bit. Good morning. Let's basketball.

Well, you wanted NBA basketball. So the Rockets and Thunder gave you 58 minutes of basketball in an opening night stunner in Oklahoma City. Reigning Thunder MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander won it from the line in double overtime after fouling out former Thunder MVP Kevin Durant on a classic SGA pump-fake at the elbow extended. Before clinching the win, Shai had sent it to overtime with a classic jumper over Amen Thompson. Alperen Sengun got it to the second OT with a putback on his own miss thanks to a Steven Adams clear-out.

Just an incredible, interesting, intense game. And a helluva welcome back to the NBA on NBC.

The Thunder didn't have Jalen Williams, so you may want to take Houston's competitiveness on the road against the champs with a grain of salt. I'd encourage you to avoid that: the Rockets are raw as a group, there are real growing pains here and there's a path to them getting much better over the course of the season. And really, it's the basics Houston needs to figure out.

Basics like: how do we make sure Kevin Durant gets the ball more frequently down the stretch?