Written by Zach Harper at CBSSports.com
The Houston Rockets have one goal in this series. It isn’t to win the series. This isn’t a Disney movie and they’re not a lovable, down on their luck protagonist. It’s simply to earn the respect of their opponents. I’m not sure you’d ever get the Golden State Warriors to admit it, but the way they play against the Rockets appears to be different than most teams. The boasting and celebrating are still there, but the barking seems to intensify.
Draymond Green can be found in a Vine mouthing “so damn soft” after any given success on the offensive end of the floor during the Warriors’ 104-78 domination of the Rockets. Houston’s physical play and confused switching pass for competitiveness for only so long, but if you can’t take the Warriors out of their rhythm, then you can’t challenge them. If you can’t match (or at least approach) the basketball IQ that fuels their flowing read-and-react offense, they don’t seem to fret about what you can do. Playing into their game breeds a certain level of disrespect that should be ill fitting for a team that went to the Western Conference finals a year ago.
“You think you can do what we do?”
You basically can’t have a bad approach on the court and make stupid decisions against the Warriors, no matter how much talent you have. In fact, having a high level of talent and not coming close to maximizing it creates an even bigger divide between how much you should respect a playoff opponent and how much they do. The Rockets mostly play inadequate basketball from a strategic standpoint, or at least that’s the way the season has gone for them. They don’t show resiliency or resolve. They don’t show self-awareness. And because of that, they don’t pose a threat to a historic team looking for back-to-back titles.
Frankly, they’re too talented for this to be the situation.
When Patrick Beverley and Stephen Curry were entangled early in the game as the MVP played around with the ball like trying to shield a puppy from capturing a bouncing toy, Curry didn’t back down as they tried to untangle themselves and then needed to be separated. That’s to be expected with Beverley, whose ability to agitate an opposing point guard is only equaled by his ability to defend, but the Warriors wanting to retaliate or push back shows a lack of concern in the potential consequences.
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