Golden State Warriors vs. Houston Rockets: Rivalry Brewing?

Last season might have been the official prequel to a Warriors/Rockets rivalry.

The Warriors defeated the surprise Western Conference finalists Houston Rockets in 5 games last season, sending the Warriors to their first NBA Finals in 40 years. Despite a valiant effort by MVP runner up James Harden, the Rockets never really stood a chance against the Warriors without pesky point guard Patrick Beverley hounding Stephen Curry and with Dwight Howard supposedly playing on a torn MCL. The Warriors and Rockets have been at each other’s throats through the media throughout the offseason, so how will they actually matchup on the court in 2016?

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For some reason, the Rockets tend to get overlooked when analysts talk about the top teams in the Western Conference. With additions such as Ty Lawson and rookie Montrezl Harrell, the Rockets are arguably the deepest team in the whole NBA. They have the athleticism to match the Warriors and Clippers, the offensive punch to match the Thunder, and the ability to play at a slower pace with the Spurs. Say what you want about Harden’s tendency to choke, or Dwight Howard being soft as a kitten, but this team has the pieces to make a Finals run in 2016.

If the Rockets are healthy, they match up with the Warriors well. Lawson said he wants to make Curry work on the defensive end, so expect Curry and Lawson to go at it on both ends of the court this season, which brings us to a little throwback from the 2013 playoffs:

At the shooting guard spot, you got the two best 2 guards in the game. Klay Thompson has been working all summer to improve his one-on-one defense, and maybe this has something to do with Harden at times seeming automatic despite Klay’s hand in his face in the playoffs last season.

Harden has the unique ability to get his opponents into foul trouble when he takes it to the rim, but luckily for the Warriors they have a laundry list of players who could try their hand at Harden if Thompson gets into foul trouble. Curry and Thompson would likely take full advantage of a Lawson/Harden backcourt on the offensive end, but the Rockets would be able to go to Beverley if they wanted to make things more difficult for Curry.

The front court battle would also be intriguing. Both teams have versatile bigs. The Warriors have Draymond Green who can guard all five positions, and Festus Ezeli, strong, athletic, big still developing. While the Rockets have rookie highflyer Harrell and Donatas Motiejunas, a gifted scorer who could probably started on a lot of other teams around the league. Andrew Bogut had Howard’s number last season, and you know this year there will be a crazy amount of physicality in the post between these two defensive minded behemoths.

There’s been a lot of back and forth between these two teams dating back to 2013, when Mark Jackson ordered his team to intentionally foul Rockets players to prevent them from getting the single-game 3 point record:

Every time these two teams have played each other since then, it seems like the level of dislike between them increases. Let’s just hope we get to see another playoff series between these guys.

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