HOUSTON (CBS HOUSTON) – For all the good that came out of the Rockets’ growth in the Clippers series, there’s also a realization the Rockets needed some time to get going.
They know they can’t afford that luxury against the Warriors, a team that had a league-best 67-15 record. Unlike their first two playoff series, the Rockets no longer enjoy home advantage. So against a team that was 39-2 at home during the regular season, there can’t be a few games taken to adjust.
“I thought the L.A. series, we played like we were stuck in the mud the first couple of games,” Rockets head coach Kevin McHale said. “It took us a long time to get into that series. We’ve got to come out in this series firing on all cylinders. We’re not at home. We don’t have home court. We’ve got to go there and get a game in Golden State, which is not going to be easy, but we’ve got to come out on fire.”
His leading scorer, James Harden, agreed.
“We’ve got to be ready to go,” Harden said. “I think, this past series, we kind of eased our way into the series and started playing really well the last few games. I think, for this series, we’ve got to be ready to go from the beginning.”
It would certainly be preferable for the Rockets to at least get a split on the road over the first two games if they hope to move on to the NBA Finals. However, the team knows that’s fairly difficult, given what the Warriors have done at Oracle Arena this season.
“Our plan is to go out there and steal one, but that’s easier said than done,” Josh Smith said. “They have a terrific fan base out there. I think I read where the New Orleans coach kind of complained about the noisiness of the crowd, so we’re going to have to do a great job of controlling the momentum of the building from the tip.”
Unlike the series against the Clippers, the Rockets don’t have any rust to worry about for Game One. They have played their best ball over the last five quarters that got them to this point. While the theme from the Rockets’ side is how they’re turning the page over from the Clippers’ series to the current matchup with the Warriors, there’s something to be said for the momentum they’ve gathered.
“I think it can carry over,” Corey Brewer said. “We’re finally playing pretty good. We had one half of Game Six and then we played pretty good last night, so now we have to carry that over and get that first win.”
