Discernment: Warriors 124, Rockets 114

Rivalries are fun. Even if they’re one sided. In their last 23 games against the Houston Rockets—regular and post season—the Golden State Warriors are 19 and 4. And they are 12-1 over the past three seasons against Chris Paul’s former team, the Los Angeles Clippers. Both the Rockets and the Clippers have been perineal playoff teams in the West, but they have never gotten any traction against the Warriors since the latter began its ascent to the championship level three seasons ago. Both teams dislike the Warriors, and both were dismissive of them early in the rivalry. James Harden’s “They ain’t that good” comment in the 2015 post season captured the Rockets’ haughty sentiment, which gave way to quiet desperation over the course of the next three years of futility. The Clippers rivalry against the Warriors in that span of time has been much the same. So because desperate times call for desperate measures, Chris Paul joined forces with James Harden in one of the NBA’s strangest unions. The odd mix had great success early in the season as the new Rockets beat the Warriors in their first game this season and held the NBA’s best record for the first quarter of the season. But in December the Warriors, without Steph Curry, snapped out of their early season Championship hang over and now they possess the best record in the NBA. Last night they evened the season series with the Rockets with a 124 to 114 win in an entertaining game that featured the NBA’s two best offenses. Even without Harden and Kevin Durant, both out with injury, the teams mustered enough fire power on offense to make it an engaging regular season game.

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