The Rockets are seriously a threat to the Warriors

James Harden hit the biggest shot of the night while still recovering from a hamstring injury, Chris Paul went postal for 33 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists, and the Rockets held off the Warriors, 116-108, to come away with their biggest win of the season. It’s their second win of the season against the defending champs, and an exclamation mark in the two teams’ final matchup of the season.

Sure, Draymond Green was ejected at a critical juncture of the first matchup. And sure, both teams’ stars (Harden and Kevin Durant) were injured in Game 2. But the Rockets, without both Trevor Ariza and Gerald Green, took down a Goliath Golden State team on Saturday night.

Little David is all grown up.

It would be foolish to jump to a conclusion in the middle of the season. After all, Houston has won only one game in the Western Conference Finals in the Harden era, while Golden State has won two championships in the past three seasons.

But this isn’t just the Harden era; it’s the Harden and CP3 era. And it might be time to put respect on the Rockets’ name as a serious threat to the Warriors should the two teams inevitably meet in the Western Conference Finals.

The Rockets are an undefeated 17-0 — yes, seventeen wins and zero losses — when Harden, Paul and Clint Capela are all healthy and in the lineup. It’s a level of dominance few teams have exhibited this season, let alone in recent memory.

Houston built a team tailor-made to stop Golden State, and many fans and pundits called it an exercise in futility. But the Rockets are nearly just as versatile on the wings as the Warriors are, and they’ve found a way to match, if not exceed, Golden State’s firepower.

Harden can go off at a moment’s notice, but it was Paul whose scoring lifted the Rockets on Saturday. Eric Gordon is the NBA’s reigning Sixth Man of the Year and has positioned himself to repeat for the trophy this season (Hi, Lou Williams!). And Houston’s supporting cast of Ryan Anderson, Trevor Ariza (DNP - suspension), P.J. Tucker and Luc Mbah a Moute have fully gelled in their roles as marksmen from downtown. It’s a formula GM Daryl Morey concocted that has borne fruit as a challenger for not just the best team in the West, but all of the NBA.

Houston and Golden State don’t have anymore regular season games, and last year, we never got a Rockets-Warriors showdown. Gregg Popovich and the San Antonio Spurs had other thoughts. But with the reinvented Rockets led by a duo of guards flanked by a bevy of three-and-D wings, it almost seems a to be a lock that these two teams meet in the Western Conference Finals for a shot at an NBA championship.

In years past, you could have almost bet the house on the Warriors without a second thought. This time around? Not so fast.