The Rockets have a glimmer of hope in the midst of Fred VanVleet's devastating injury

As the Houston Rockets entered the season, their most pressing issue was crystal clear: their lack of a bona-fide offensive facilitator in the absence of starting point guard Fred VanVleet.

While, through their first two games, this issue played itself out in dramatic fashion, with both Amen Thompson and Reed Sheppard struggling to keep control of the ball against pressure from opposing defenses, their combined 16 assists against the Brooklyn Nets provide a glimmer of hope for the ceiling this offense can still reach without VanVleet.

Although the team will, undoubtedly, still need to lean into players like Alperen Sengun and Kevin Durant to take over some of this workload, Sheppard and Thompson flashed what many optimists hoped they could be this season: capable enough ball-handlers to keep the offense going.

Amen Thompson and Reed Sheppard are finally showing signs of life as facilitators

As the Rockets dropped their first two games, to the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Detroit Pistons, there were a number of flaws that became visible, especially with the team's decision to start the double-big lineup for both games.

However, in their dominant 137-109 win over the Nets, the team finally found its groove. Durant scored 19 points, while Sengun had 21, and the team as a whole looked exponentially better on that end of the floor than they did in their first two games.

Nevertheless, the most salient improvement came in their guard play. Although Thompson did not shoot well beyond the rim, he finished 5-of-10 from the floor, amassing eight assists in the process. While Brooklyn resorted even to double teaming him at times in the first half, he was able to make the right plays to alleviate the pressure, and he had zero turnovers throughout the course of the game.

Sheppard's minutes, moreover, looked viable for the first time this season. He scored 15 points, going 3-of-7 from 3-point range, and he also amassed eight assists throughout the game paired with only two turnovers.

While six of these assists came in the fourth quarter, when the game was all but decided and Sheppard was playing alongside the team's bench players, Sheppard looked much more confident in the minutes he did get within the regular flow of the game.

Both players made some nice passes throughout the course of the night, but, ultimately, the team does not need them to be flashy playmakers.

They need them to be able to make the right passes, responding to pressure from opposing defenses and limiting their turnovers, and both guards were able to do so successfully against Brooklyn.

If Houston has any chance to recover their championship dreams this season, it will come through these types of performances from both of these players, and they now have a glimmer of hope after their victory over the Nets.