Rockets Reccuring Nightmare! Warriors Continue to Haunt Houston, Exposing Rockets Deepest Fear

Stephen Curry had a huge game, making clutch three-pointers, and the Golden State Warriors defeated the Houston Rockets. The Rockets have relived this story many times over nearly a decade of difficulties against Golden State. Houston broke a four-season losing streak to the Warriors during the NBA Cup, but the Warriors have dominated the rest of the series. The Rockets’ latest loss had flashbacks of previous failures against the Bay Area team.

Curry is less of a flashback and more of a nightmare for the Rockets. He consistently makes difficult shots from deep range and creates opportunities for his teammates with his gravity. Curry averages over 24 points per game against the Rockets, adding to his history of domination over Houston.

His chemistry with Draymond Green is proven through years of high-level performance during one of the league’s best dynasties.

The Rockets have been on the losing end for much of Golden State’s golden era, and Curry and Green are core figures of the dynastic run. When Curry makes shots, the Warriors are a difficult team to defeat. Things are even more difficult when other players on the team are performing at a high level.

In the Warriors’ victory in Houston, Curry received significant support from his teammates. The starting lineup did a majority of the damage offensively against the Rockets. Curry led with a game-high 27 points followed by Jimmy Butler with 19 points.

Brandin Podziemski also contributed at a high level by scoring 18 points as the team’s third-highest scorer. Draymond Green and Moses Moody scored 13 and 10 points, respectively, as every player in the starting five scored double digits.

The Warriors got just 18 points from their bench as their starters took over stretches of the game.

In contrast, the Rockets didn’t get much help from their starting lineup. Instead, they got significant help from their reserves. Aaron Holiday led the team in scoring with 25 points, but the rest of the starters combined for just 30 points.

Houston’s reserves had a big game with 43 total points, led by 13 points by Jock Landale and 11 points by Nate Williams. The bench came up big when the starting lineup was struggling to make anything work.

Alperen Sengun was the only other starter besides Holiday to reach double digits. He just barely reached the double-digit plateau with 10 points. Jalen Green scored nine points and Dillon Brooks scored 7 in a futile effort offensively.

The Rockets showed their struggles against zone defense as they never created enough ball movement to keep Golden State off balance. The reserves found success forcing their way into the paint on drives and crashing the boards, two weaknesses of a zone defense. The starters couldn’t recreate the same success during their minutes, and the team combined for 20 turnovers in one of its worst games for ball security.

Houston can rest and recover some injured players with the All-Star Break. However, going into the break with a loss against a familiar face will sting until their next opportunity.