Victory boosts Rockets’ confidence
HOUSTON — The quote surfaced late Saturday night, near the top of an ESPN.com story detailing the Rockets’ self-assuredness after taking their regular-season series against the Warriors: “We are better than them.”
Within hours, that five-word sound bite from Houston center Clint Capela rippled through the blogosphere, prompting Deadspin.com to publish the headline, “Clint Capela, High on Victory, Says One Sentence Too Many.” The message was clear: Why give Golden State bulletin-board material?
That Capela couldn’t help himself underscores the onesided nature of this burgeoning rivalry. Though the Warriors insist that the Rockets are just another team they’ll probably have to get by to win their third NBA title in four years, Houston has been open that beating Golden State is its singular focus.
No matter how much the Warriors try to downplay the Rockets as a threat, however, Houston has showed that it’s worth extra attention. After dropping 19 of their previous 24 meetings to Golden State, the Rockets won two of the teams’ three regular-season games,
joining the Spurs (2014-15, 2016-17) and Grizzlies (2016-17) as the only clubs to have beaten the Warriors twice in the same season since Steve Kerr became head coach.
With Chris Paul playing on a bruised knee that forced him to sit the next month, Houston overcame a 17-point deficit for a season-opening win Oct. 17 at Oracle Arena. The Rockets weathered six lead changes in the fourth quarter Saturday to escape with a 116-108 victory over Golden State. In the Warriors’ only win this season over Houston, Jan. 4 at Toyota Center, Kevin Durant and MVP front-runner James Harden were sidelined by injuries.
If both teams end the season with the same records, the Rockets would receive the higher seed and home-court advantage over Golden State in the playoffs. Fresh from the showers after Saturday’s loss, Warriors center David West pulled a PR staffer aside, asking how big Golden State’s lead was on Houston for the Western Conference’s No. 1 seed. When the staffer told him 3½ games, West furrowed his brow, pursed his lips and, while nodding, replied: “Yep, we’re good.”
“It’s Game 40-what? Seven, eight?” Warriors forward Draymond Green later said when asked about the significance of Saturday’s loss. “Who (do) we play on Tuesday? We just got to get ready for (New York). Home court will take care of itself down the road.”
Therein lies a difference between Golden State and the Rockets: As Houston general manager Daryl Morey obsesses with the Warriors, Golden State isn’t fretting over Houston because it isn’t overly concerned about any team. The Warriors recognize that they can beat anyone on their schedule when they’re at their best.
More than the result, Saturday was important because it emboldened a team embracing the role of David against Golden State’s Goliath. Houston, though not as deep or stingy defensively as the Warriors, is beginning to believe it can beat Golden State in a seven-game series. Such confidence will be paramount come postseason.
“Mentally, now we have a chance to go after the No. 1 seed,” Houston guard Eric Gordon said. “Because if it’s a tie at the end of the year, we have that edge. That’s why we all thought it was very important to win. Now that we’re healthy, I think that we’re going to get back to a big winning streak and get back to doing what we need to do, like we did earlier in the year.”
On the day the Warriors won their second NBA title in three years, ESPN.com published a story in which Morey was quoted as saying, “We might up our risk profile and get even more aggressive. We have something up our sleeve.” Two weeks later, on June 28, Morey shipped a package of assets to the Clippers for Paul.
To cap Houston’s blockbuster summer, Morey added role players Luc Mbah a Moute and P.J. Tucker, both of whom have brought the Rockets a defensive physicality they had lacked. Now, more than halfway through the season, the Rockets are 17-0 when Harden, Paul and Capela play together.
Capela might have overstated matters when he said that Houston is better than Golden State, but this much is certain: The Rockets are playing with renewed self-belief, and more than any individual matchup, that should make them a challenge for the Warriors this spring.
“I think the difference between them last year and this year — obviously, everyone is going to say CP, but they’re just playing harder,” Durant said. “I feel like they’re playing harder on the defensive side of the ball. I feel like they’ve got versatile defenders. Capela has gotten better. It’s just more than CP. They’re doing a good job of meshing together.” Connor Letourneau is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: cletourneau@ sfchronicle.com Twitter: @Con_Chron