James Harden's return to Oklahoma City could have gone much better for the bearded Olympian, but his early struggles haven't dragged the Houston Rockets down. Harden missed all four of shots, scoring no points, though he did tally a rebound, two assists and a steal. He also turned the ball over twice and had several shots blocked.

Despite that performance, Houston was down only 27-25 to the Thunder exiting the first quarter, and that's without small forward Chandler Parsons, who has been the team's biggest offensive threat this season after Harden. Patrick Patterson poured in 10 points for the Rockets -- including two three pointers -- to go along with Omer Asik's six points and Daequan Cook's five points.

The Thunder, meanwhile, picked up eight points and four blocks from Serge Ibaka, six points from Kevin Durant and two points from Russell Westbrook.

Wednesday night is Harden's first time back in OKC after being traded to the Rockets just before the offseason.