Golden State Warriors: What to expect against James Harden-led Rockets

The Golden State Warriors will welcome the Houston Rockets into the brand new Chase Center for a Christmas Day showdown that may be rather forgettable.

This is going to be a rough day for the Golden State Warriors.

The Warriors are 7-24 while the Rockets are among the best teams in the Western Conference and are coming off an impressive victory over the LA Clippers a few nights ago. That’s already a recipe for trouble.

This may also serve as a revenge game for James Harden, P.J. Tucker, Clint Capela and all those Rockets that remember how Golden State ended their 2018-2019 season. While there is no Curry, he’s certainly be watching from the sidelines.

These two teams have already played once this season. It turned out to be a 17-point Houston victory which was capped off by 36 from Harden. This is relatively what I’d expect to see again on Christmas Day.

The Warriors will have D’Angelo Russell and Draymond Green both healthy. And, the Warriors are riding their longest win streak of the season although just two games. They have built some confidence that could just end up being shredded when Harden comes to town.

Russell, Green, Eric Paschall, and Alec Burks will all have the chance to put together a premiere performance on arguably the regular season’s biggest platform.

Given that this will likely be a high-scoring shootout, expecting at least a few of these Warriors to have monster games is not out of the question.

The Rockets average over 120 points per game, the second-most in the NBA. Combine that with the Warriors who have the seven-worst defensive rating in the league, and this game may not be pretty for Dub Nation.

A blowout will likely ensue as the Rockets are going to want to make sure they give the Warriors a taste of the embarrassment that they received in Game 6 of the 2019 Western Conference Semifinals.