San Francisco, California, USA; Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry (30) dribbles past Houston Rockets forward Amen Thompson (1) in the second quarter at the Chase Center. Mandatory Credit: Cary Edmondson-Imagn Images
Houston Rockets players sat down for interviews with Sports Illustrated recently, where they were asked if they’re going to have a rivalry with the Golden State Warriors moving forward. Tari Eason, Alperen Sengun, Jabari Smith Jr., and Amen Thompson all stated that this has been a rivalry even before they joined the Rockets, and most of them believe it will continue to be the case in the future.
Tari Eason: “Rockets-Warriors has been a rivalry even before I stepped into the NBA.”
Alperen Sengun: “Yeah, it’s always been like that when James (Harden) was here, too. That’s a competition good for us.”
Jabari Smith Jr.: “I feel like it is. It’s not often teams just keep clashing in the playoffs. Right now, it’s two teams that are trying to win a championship. So, I mean, yeah, I call it a rivalry.”
Amen Thompson: “I mean I don’t know moving forward, but throughout history it’s been. Throughout the 2010s until last year it’s been. And I know in season it’s gonna be a good game.”
Sengun: “We love to play it. We always get more motivated when we play against them. So, it’s gonna keep going like that.”
These comments didn’t go down too well with Warriors fans. One fan page roasted the Rockets players by making it clear that it can’t be a rivalry.
“LOL Rivalry? Can’t be a rivalry if one team wins every time.”
Other Warriors fans joined in on the clowning, too.
“What rivalry? It’s not a rivalry if we keep beating them and owning them,” a fan echoed that sentiment.
“No rivalry to be had with the Rockets; they’re not cut from that cloth,” one fan threw shade at the Rockets.
“Steph owns the Rockets, it will always be that way,” a fan says Stephen Curry will forever own the Rockets.
“Y’all remember when Memphis thought they had a rivalry with us? We see how that turned out for them, these lil boys just tryna make a name for themselves, but it’s not working,” one fan believes the Rockets’ fate will be similar to that of the Memphis Grizzlies.
“Lmao, we don’t even think about them,” a Warriors fan claims he doesn’t even think about the Rockets.
You can understand why those Rockets players view this as a rivalry, but the Warriors have just had their number in the Stephen Curry era. The teams have faced off in the playoffs five times, and the outcome has been the same on each occasion.
The Warriors first met the Rockets in the postseason in the Western Conference Finals in 2015 and won in five games. They would win in five again in 2016 when the teams faced off in the first round.
The Rockets would put up much more resistance in the third meeting, as they even went up 3-2 when the teams clashed in the Western Conference Finals in 2018. Unfortunately, Chris Paul suffered a hamstring injury in Game 5, and they’d end up losing in seven games. The Rockets infamously missed 27 threes in a row in their Game 7 loss.
The nature of that defeat meant there was a lot of hype surrounding the rematch in the Western Conference Semifinals in 2018. The Warriors didn’t let that series go the distance, though, as they knocked out the Rockets in six games.
We’d have to wait a while to see them face off again, as the fifth meeting came in the first round last season. The Warriors looked to be in complete control when they went up 3-1, but the Rockets managed to force a Game 7. They had all the momentum heading into that do-or-die clash, but ended up losing 103-89.
Then in the offseason, Sengun called out the Warriors for fouling and crying in that series, and you knew Draymond Green was going to react to a comment like that. Green called out the big man, and there will be tension in the air when these teams meet this season.
