The Warriors have dashed the Rockets’ championship aspirations two of the past three years, and Houston general manager Daryl Morey has become obsessed with not letting it happen again. Morey told ESPN’s Ryen Russillo on Thursday that beating Golden State is the “the only thing we think about”:
“I think I’m not supposed to say that, but we’re basically obsessed with ‘How do we beat the Warriors?’ Last year the Spurs knocked us off, so we’re very worried about the Spurs, they’re always one step ahead of every organization and guard us better than anyone. But we calculated it—it’s like 90 percent if we’re gonna win a title, we’ve gotta obviously beat the Warriors at some point. So we’re extremely focused on that. A lot of our signings and what we do during the year is based on that.”
The Rockets, who were knocked out in the conference semi-finals last postseason, made a significant move to improve the team this offseason, signing Chris Paul from the Los Angeles Clippers to play alongside talisman James Harden. The initial returns look good for Houston, who currently boast the best record (25-5) and second best point differential in the NBA (+10.7), and are fresh off a 14-game winning streak that began when Paul returned to the lineup following an early season injury. What’s more, Harden is playing the best basketball of his career, averaging 31.9 points and 9 assists per game, while leading the NBA in real-plus minus.
The idea that Morey should be focusing on the Warriors may sound a bit presumptuous, as the Rockets have only made it to the Conference Finals once during his tenure. The often outspoken Morey was the subject of ridicule this offseason from Draymond Green, after he said of the Warriors: “They are not unbeatable. There have been bigger upsets in sports history. We are going to keep improving our roster. We are used to long odds. If Golden State makes the odds longer, we might up our risk profile and get even more aggressive. We have something up our sleeve.”
Draymond scoffed at Morey’s comments.
“What the fuck are you talking about?” he told GQ Magazine. “They are really trying to rethink their whole strategy”—here he bumps a table repeatedly with his hand for emphasis, getting excited—“because teams know they don’t have a fucking clue.”
The Warriors head to Houston to face the Rockets on January 4.
