Game 7: Golden State Warriors Vs. Houston Rockets Preview

The Houston Rockets remain one of the few NBA teams that are undefeated through this early stretch of the season.

I’ve been extremely impressed with how they’ve done it so far — stepping up their defense with hard-nosed tenacity and continuing to be the offensive juggernaut that they’ve been known for.

There are only three teams that remain undefeated as of right now.

That would be the Golden State Warriors, the Memphis Grizzlies and, of course the Rockets.

That number will be whittled down to two after tonight as the Rockets do battle with the Warriors at Toyota Center.

I sat down and chatted with Eric He, Editor of Fansided’s Blue Man Hoop and we both hashed out what we expect to see in tonight’s game:

Furthermore, someone will be happy they’re the victor and someone will be disappointed that they lost.

It might as well be the Rockets as the team that will continue their quest to remain undefeated as long as possible.

These two teams are carbon-copies of each other — they are among the top 10 in the NBA in scoring (104.3 per game Rockets) (109.5 per game Warriors); and, surprisingly, they’re also in the top five (89.7 and 93.8 points per game respectively) for points allowed.

This was a stat the Rockets were at the bottom of the barrel with last season and never really improved upon it.

It’s refreshing to know that the team was working toward bucking that awful trend from last season.

There’s lots to look for tonight as these teams take the court!

What I’m looking forward to the most is the match up of Dwight Howard along with Andrew Bogut — Howard has been breezing along this season garnering his sixth double-double in as many games most recently against the San Antonio Spurs Thursday night.

Bogut has had an impressive campaign so far and has become the low-post threat that he’d been projected to be since his days of dominance at the University of Utah before transitioning to the NBA.

Both are in the Top 15 in terms of rebounding this season — Howard (5th with 11.5 per) Bogut (12th with 10.3 per) — and it will be a treat to see these two men tussle and jockey for position while in the low post.

Who will win the battle?

We shall see…

Patrick Beverley and Terrence Jones will be out at least a week according to the Rockets:

It will be interesting to see how the Rockets react to not having these men in uniform. James Harden will likely be tasked with guarding Klay Thompson, who is having quite a season so far.

Isaiah Canaan will be given the nod to start once again in place of Beverley and he’ll be likely assigned to defend Stephen Curry. He has had some incredible moments in helping this team win so far so I’d expect nothing less out of him.

But it leaves the important question of what Donatas Motiejunas will do.

He was virtually a no-show in Thursday’s match up against the Spurs in place of Jones and only had three rebounds and one assist in 25 minutes of action. He did not score at all.

Will we see the rise of D-Mo?

It remains to be seen but his main assignment is to defend because we have enough scorers on the starting roster. Of course, if the opportunity is there he will but the offense will not flow through him.

Three Things to Watch:

1. The D12 vs. Bogut match up

2. How well Canaan/Harden can defend the Warriors’ backcourt

3. Seeing some type of ascent/progression with D-Mo

Prediction:

97-92 in a Rockets’ win!

The Rockets will take on the Warriors tonight — tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m.

The game will be televised on CSN Houston and broadcast on 790 AM (KBME).

Go Rockets!

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