The Houston Rockets are the hottest team in the NBA, on a 10-game winning streak and just one game behind the Warriors for the final spot in the Western Conference play-in tournament.
After Wednesday's 132-126 overtime win over the top-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder, Rockets forward Tali Eason, who is sidelined for the season with a leg injury, spoke out against the Warriors on social media. It was a kind of provocation.
Eason referenced the 1979 classic film “Warriors,'' in which actor David Patrick Kelly famously challenges the line, “Warriors, come play.''
The Warriors and Rockets will meet for the third and final time this season in a key game in Houston on April 4th. Golden State won both of their previous meetings, and will be aiming for a clean sweep of the season by keeping Houston, an upstart team that has improved in the final stages, at bay.
Although the lineup has changed over the years, it's not uncommon for these teams to see each other in big games, and since the 2014-15 season, the Warriors and Rockets have faced off in four different NBA playoff series.
Golden State won all four of those series, including an unforgettable performance on the road at Houston. Among them is the Warriors' 118-113 victory over the Rockets in Game 6 of the Western Conference semifinals in 2019, where Stephen Curry famously scored 33 points in the second half to boost Golden State.
Times have changed since that night nearly five years ago, but the Warriors' dependence on Curry's heroics remains the same. The 36-year-old superstar has a chance to deliver yet another gut punch to the longtime Rockets franchise, and Eason's trash talk could be the perfect motivator.
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