Counting down
Highly anticipated Western showdown launches Monday
The buildup for this playoff series truly began in February, when Golden State Warriors star Draymond Green made some pointed comments about the Houston Rockets.
Or maybe it was in October, when Houston won at Golden State the night the hosts received their 2017 NBA championship rings.
Or perhaps as far back as last June, when the Rockets landed Chris Paul.
Whenever it started, however it started, it’s clear this is the showdown the NBA-watching world wanted. Western Conference finals, Golden State versus Houston, Game 1 on Monday on the Rockets’ home floor. Series winner to the NBA Finals, series loser will undoubtedly feel like a championship ring slipped away.
“They got us. We got them,” Green said. “Got to go out there and play. We’ll see who’s better.”
After more than 10 months of playing, posturing and some pontificating, it really is that simple.
This Houston roster was assembled — the key being the trade for Paul last summer — with hopes of unseating the Warriors from their perch atop the NBA. Houston set a franchise record with 65 wins in the regular season, went 2-1 against the Warriors in games that were hyped at the time but seem meaningless now, and has the likely league MVP in James Harden.
But how the Rockets will remember this season hinges largely on the outcome of this series.
“Everybody at the beginning of the year thinks they’ve got a chance to be here,” Houston’s P.J. Tucker said. “Everybody talks about winning. Everybody talks about fighting for a championship. … We really believed it. We’re really fighting to get there. This is not a game. Everybody takes their job serious.”
He’s right on all counts, particularly on the talking. And that will most definitely continue over the next few days, when a lot of people will be saying a lot of somethings.
“I think it’s going to be a great series,” said New Orleans coach Alvin Gentry, whose Pelicans fell in five games to the Warriors in the Western Conference semifinals. “I think it will be very entertaining. I think the people will have a great time watching that series, because you have great players out there. … I’m looking forward to it.”
He’s hardly alone. For as great as Cleveland star LeBron James has been again, the West matchup is going to overshadow the Eastern Conference finals pitting Cleveland against Boston, which wrapped up its second-round series against Philadelphia on Wednesday night. That’s no disrespect to the East; that’s just reality given the seasons the Warriors and Rockets have had, as well as the collision course that seemed too inevitable for either to avoid.
“The whole world’s been waiting for this matchup,” Hall of Famer Shaquille O’Neal said in his role as an analyst Tuesday night on TNT.
The three Warriors-Rockets games were about as anticipated as any in the regular season: Golden State lost two of the three, and the final combined score of those matchups was Warriors 353, Rockets 352.
“That was so long ago,” Warriors forward Kevin Durant said. “I think both teams are different and playing better. So you know, I try not to look at those games, but we kind of know they know what we do and they know what we do.”
It’s the second time in four years Houston and Golden State have met in the West finals; the Warriors ousted the Rockets in five games in 2015 on their way to the NBA title. Golden State was the No. 1 seed that year, Houston was No. 2. The seeds are flipped this time after Houston finished the regular season with the league’s best record.
This is the first time since 2014 — a span of 15 series — Golden State will have to play Game 1 on the road.
“Every series you play, it gets harder and harder and harder,” said Warriors guard Stephen Curry, who is seeking a fourth straight trip to the NBA Finals and a third ring in four years. “So following that trend for sure.”