Warriors, Rockets Have Unfinished Business in Western Conference Showdown
The Western Conference is too tightly contested for teams to fret over bragging rights.
When a pair of heavyweights collide, like they will when the Golden State Warriors host the Houston Rockets on Wednesday (10:30 p.m. ET), the games yield real-world, tangible results. That's just a part of life in the NBA's Wild West, where a mere three games stand between the top seed and the seventh team on that list.
Both the Warriors and Rockets appear to be among the conference's best. The two teams carry some of the league's top credentials into Wednesday's tilt.
| Record | 16-4 | 18-2 |
| Offensive Rating | 102.2 | 107.4 |
| Defensive Rating | 96.5 | 94.5 |
| Field-Goal Percentage | 42.8 | 48.1 |
| Field-Goal Percentage Allowed | 42.6 | 40.9 |
The Warriors have the more impressive numbers in this matchup, but that isn't a knock on the Rockets. Rather, it's a reflection of the fact Golden State currently owns the NBA's best stat sheet.
Under first-year coach Steve Kerr—plus his supreme coaching staff, led by offensive mastermind Alvin Gentry and defensive guru Ron Adams—the Warriors have been a dominant two-way force.
Golden State is the league's only team with top-five efficiency marks on both sides of the ball, sitting fifth on offense and first at the other end. The Warriors are tied for second in field-goal percentage and rank first in field-goal percentage against. They have won a league-best (and franchise-record) 13 consecutive games by an average of 13.2 points.
"The Warriors have all the pieces to compete with anybody," wrote Bay Area News Group's Marcus Thompson II. "... They are too potent to lose frequently to bad teams. Too deep not to consistently topple the average ones. They're being utilized too well not to be a problem for the better teams."
The Rockets know what type of test the Warriors present.
Houston's record was unblemished before the team hosted the Warriors for its seventh game of the season. With no Dwight Howard, Terrence Jones or Patrick Beverley, the Rockets watched their eight-point halftime lead evaporate during what would turn into a 98-87 loss for Houston.
Howard suited up for Houston's next four games, but a strained right knee has sidelined him for the last nine. A bruised nerve in his right leg has kept Jones out of action since November 3. And Beverley just returned over the weekend from a two-week absence caused by a hamstring problem.
But despite all of the missing bodies, the Rockets have picked up seven wins over their last eight games. The teams they have played over that stretch have a combined record of 89-80, or an 81-46 mark when the New York Knicks and Minnesota Timberwolves are dropped from the equation.
Houston is a long ways from full strength, yet it's still playing at a very high level. As Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle and Bleacher Report explained, the Rockets have discovered their roster might be a lot deeper than initially expected:
"They have more options than they might have guessed in the off-season, with rookies Kostas Papanikolaou and Tarik Black looking like solid rotation pieces and Papanikolaou seeming more valuable than just 'solid.' Jason Terry has been a far greater contributor than the Rockets could have assumed. Donatas Motiejunas has taken a significant and vital step up.
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It also doesn't hurt that James Harden has made MVP-caliber contributions on a near-nightly basis.
Harden is the league's only player currently averaging at least 25 points, six rebounds and six assists. If he clears those marks for an entire season, he'd be the first player not named LeBron James to post such a stat line since Clyde Drexler and Michael Jordan did in 1991-92.
He has the sixth-highest usage percentage (31.1), the third-best scoring average (25.1) and the 14th-highest assist percentage (34.4). The burdensome offensive load he's carrying shows through in his 41.1 field-goal percentage and 4.4 turnovers average, yet he ranks seventh in player efficiency rating (24.7) and is tied for first in defensive win shares with 1.5.
"Harden's current run as a titanium life-raft deserves positive attention," wrote Sports On Earth's Michael Pina. "He is not the best player in the league—though he probably isn't far off—but through the season's first month he is unequivocally its most valuable."
The Rockets, of course, will need more than Harden to have a shot at snapping Golden State's winning streak. One man cannot sink a squad that has nine different regulars averaging double-digit points per 36 minutes.
The Warriors have their own MVP leader in Stephen Curry, who ranks eighth in points (23.1), sixth in assists (7.7), sixth in steals (1.9) and third in PER (27.4). But the prolific point guard is far from being a one-man show.
Golden State also has sharpshooter Klay Thompson, who has expanded his all-around game under Kerr. Center Andrew Bogut, long the anchor of the Warriors defense, has now emerged as one of the team's most important offensive catalysts. Harrison Barnes has quickly settled back into the starting lineup and shattered his previous high marks in field-goal (51.6) and three-point (42.2) percentages.
Draymond Green has provided 13.3 points, 3.1 assists and 36.7 percent three-point shooting in the starting power forward position formerly held by the injured David Lee. Marreese Speights has tallied an absurd 27.2 points per 36 minutes on 54.2 percent shooting off the bench. The Warriors are still figuring out Shaun Livingston's many talents, and career starter Andre Iguodala is still finding his rhythm as a sixth man.
Golden State is overloaded with offensive weapons, and this is a team that wins with its defense.
"They've figured out that defensively we're very good, so if we just take care of the ball and defend every night, then we've got a chance to win," Kerr said, per Comcast SportsNet's Monte Poole. "That's been the constant during this streak."
Defense will be a necessity Wednesday night.
The Rockets haven't been nearly as explosive as last season, but Harden can cause so much havoc on his own. In three meetings with the Warriors last season, the bearded baller averaged 33 points on 50.7 percent shooting and six assists.
Golden State also knows how fiery Houston's shooters can get. During a February 2013 clash, the Rockets cooked the Warriors for 140 points and a record-tying 23 triples. Houston might have set a new standard had former Golden State coach Mark Jackson not elected to foul down the stretch to deny the Rockets that opportunity.
The final 64 seconds of that heated (yet not close at all) contest included a taunting technical foul on Beverley, a flagrant 2 foul on Green, a technical foul on former Rocket Marcus Morris and the ejections of Green and Morris.
The three subsequent meetings that season didn't produce the same drama, but the remnants of that first bout were still being felt the following summer.
"They hate me. I dislike them," Green said of the Rockets in August 2013, per Joe Rexrode of the Detroit Free Press, via Real GM.
Take the talent between these teams and their respective position in the conference standings, then add a little bit of bad blood, and you have all the ingredients of a wildly entertaining mid-December bout.
Even with Jones still sidelined and Howard being doubtful to play, as Jenny Dial Creech of the Houston Chronicle reported. And even with Bogut's status up in the air after he made an early exit Monday night due to right knee irritation, per Rusty Simmons of the San Francisco Chronicle.
In addition to being two of the NBA's best teams, the Rockets and Warriors have been two of its most resilient. No matter which players they have available, these two conference contenders will each be looking to score a resume-boosting knockout.
Unless otherwise noted, statistics used courtesy of Basketball-Reference.com and NBA.com.
