Houston Rockets vs. Golden State Warriors Game 4 preview

It was fun while it lasted, I guess.

Now Houston should just play out these next two games, try not to lose by 50, trade away all their good players, and move the franchise to Seattle so those Supersonics fans can enjoy basketball again.

Or, you know, the Rockets could keep trying to win.

Both Houston and Golden State are haymaker teams. They hang around and score enough to stay with the other 28 teams in the league. What separates the Rockets and Warriors from other teams is their ability to consistently have one or more big runs every game. Those runs generally come when the game is relatively close and is devastating for opponents. Golden State is obviously the gold standard and have doing it for years. The Rockets only this season joined the crusade, and they are outclassed right now in the consistency department.

Admittedly, it’s tough to talk about hope after a 41-point defeat. However, the Warriors lost Game 2 by 22 and bounced back to trounce Houston in Game 3. If you look at the series as a group of blowouts rather than individual wins and losses, you could talk yourself into being “the team with the most haymaker runs will win the series.” Right now that’s the Warriors. But Houston just needs one big one in Game 4 to even the series and regain homecourt advantage. And whether they lost Game 3 by one, 41, or 101 is irrelevant.

For Houston to have a shot, they need to make layups and defend better. Honestly, that’s it.

Andre Iguodala is doubtful. While that doesn’t technically qualify in the “one injury away” category we talked about during the regular season, Iggy is a huge part of the Warriors and features heavily in their Death Lineup. No other player outside of the Hamptons 5 can defend 1-5 like Iggy, and that could be a huge boon for the Rockets. As we know, Houston thrives on attacking mismatches and if Shaun Livingston or Kevon Looney is getting minutes instead of Iggy, that’s another player the Rockets can target besides Steph Curry.

Technically, the season doesn’t come down to tonight. As we’ve seen, being down 3-1 basically means you have a 50-50 shot at taking the series. Especially when one team won 73 games and has the unanimous MVP and what do you mean that joke is old?

Tip-off is at 8pm CT on TNT