The Golden State Warriors have delivered a crushing blow to the Houston Rockets franchise that may have sent them to basketball purgatory.
A Game 6 victory on the road by the Golden State Warriors has ended the Houston Rockets season. Playing without Durant for the final five and a half quarters of this series, the Rockets have to be devasted and disgusted with the outcome. As a result, this loss will have a long-lasting impact on the franchise.
See, the Rockets have been obsessed with beating the Warriors ever since they began their reign in 2015. Houston has relentlessly worked at building a team to compete with Golden State. A heavy emphasis on analytics and 3-point shooting led the Rockets down a wild path.
Over the last few seasons, Houston has steadily been crafting a team they believe can win a championship. Trading away multiple assets to acquire Chris Paul was the first indication that this franchise was prepared to go all-in. Signing CP3 to a contract worth over $100 million dollars was the point of no return.
Houston nearly accomplished their goal last season. Up 3-2 in the Western Conference Finals, it seemed like the Warriors were ready to keel over and take the loss. Of course, we all know that this was far from the truth. Monster performances from Kevin Durant, Klay Thompson and Stephen Curry forced this series to a decisive Game 7, where Houston would miss an NBA record 27 consecutive 3-pointers when they needed it most.
Fast forward to present day and the Warriors have once again ripped the hearts from Houston. When Kevin Durant suffered an injury that would rule him out for the remainder of the series, the Rockets received a blessing in their last true opportunity to get over the hump. The Rockets will likely never have a better chance to beat the Warriors than they did just now.
However, the Warriors did not plan on backing down. Behind a 33 point second half explosion from Curry, the Dubs have finished the Rockets off in Game 6 and advanced to the Western Conference Finals.
The question that every Rockets fan is now asking, where does the team go from here? Chris Paul still has three years left on his max contract while Clint Capela is set to make around $80 million dollars himself in the next four seasons.
It should be no surprise that not many teams are lining up to take on CP3’s massive contract. The 33-year-old star isn’t getting any younger. Meanwhile, Capela has done himself any favors by averaging just 8.6 points and 10.0 rebounds a game in this series versus the Dubs.
It seems as if the Rockets have maxed out the capabilities of this roster. It’s difficult to ask James Harden to play any better than he already has been, averaging 34.8 points, 6.8 rebounds and 5.6 assists per game is no easy task.
This is why I say the Warriors have effectively sabotaged the Rockets franchise. With no option to blow the team up and few ways to add more talent, Houston is in basketball purgatory for the foreseeable future.