Experienced Warriors face new-look Rockets for shot at NBA Finals

OAKLAND - These aren’t the old Houston Rockets. These are the new Houston Rockets.

The old Rockets fell apart in the playoffs last year against the San Antonio Spurs. The old Rockets got destroyed by the Warriors in the playoffs twice - 2015 and 2016. The old Rockets didn’t play defense and never were a real threat.

The new Rockets play defense. The new Rockets beat the Warriors two out of three times during the regular season. The new Rockets have Chris Paul.

This is the team the Warriors will face Monday in Houston for Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals. “Chris is the obvious difference in their team now,” Warriors head coach Steve Kerr said Thursday after practice. “(Paul) gives (the Rockets) a new dimension they haven’t had.

“He’s a great player, one of the best in the league and a future Hall of Famer. He is different from (Rockets shooting guard) James (Harden). They attack in different ways. Both are ball-dominant and very effective with what they do.”

Harden is the front-runner to win the MVP award, and he’s effective at shooting 3-pointers and drawing fouls. During the regular season, he shot a league-high 722 3s and a league-high 727 free throws.

“Chris is more midrange,” Kerr said. “Houston has gone to this 3-point barrage the last few years, but Chris has made them better because he’s shooting those 15-, 17-footers that they didn’t have before. In the past, it was all or nothing - either attacking the rim or shooting 3s. Chris finds those gaps.”

He also shoots 3s, although not nearly as many as Harden. Paul shot 379 3-pointers during the regular season. And he made a bunch of them against the Warriors.

On Jan. 4, Paul made 5 of 10 3s against Golden State, and had 28 points, ?7 rebounds and 9 assists. On Jan. 20, Paul made 6 of 11 3s against the Warriors, and had 33 points, 11 rebounds and 7 assists.

How can the Warriors defend Paul better?

“Can’t do it individually,” said Klay Thompson, one of the best defenders in the league. “Got to do it collectively as a team. Those two guards, there’s no stopping them by yourself. They’re going to get their numbers, but you don’t want Paul or Harden having huge games, because that usually indicates they’re going to win. You try to hold them to a low field-goal percentage. Easier said than done.”

Even if the Warriors contain Paul and Harden, they still have to worry about Clint Capela, the Rockets center. He averaged 13.9 points, 10.8 rebounds and 1.9 blocks during the regular season, and shot a league-best 65.2 percent from the field. He will be a finalist for the Most Improved Player of the Year Award.

“We played (the Rockets) in the conference finals in ’15, and he was Dwight (Howard’s) backup,” Kerr said. “(Capela) got in occasionally, but didn’t make much of an impact. He’s getting better and better. Good modern-day big. He just dives (toward the basket), doesn’t ask for the ball in the block and allows James and Chris to do their thing while giving them a lob threat, which gives them more space.”

Through 10 playoff games this season, Capela is averaging 14.4 points, 12.2 rebounds and 2.8 blocks. He is still improving. He’s only 23.

Even if the Warriors contain Capela, Paul and Harden, Golden State still needs to deal with the Rockets’ defense.

It’s better than the Warriors’ defense.

Houston’s defensive rating during the regular season was 106.1, which ranked sixth in the NBA. The Warriors defensive rating was 107.7, which ranked 11th.

“(The Rockets) changed their focus,” Kerr said. “They’re better defensively. I thought they had a great offseason. It was smart that they went after defensive-minded guys who were decent 3-point shooters instead of great 3-point shooters who were decent defenders.”

Kerr was referring to P.J. Tucker and Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, two forwards the Rockets signed during the offseason. Tucker now is their starting power forward, and Mbah a Moute is one of their key bench players.

Both shot higher than 36 percent from behind the 3-point line during the regular season.

“The thing with Mbah a Moute and P.J.,” Kerr said, “is they can switch (on defense). (The Rockets) are switching everything like we do.”

Tucker and Mbah a Moute can defend centers, forwards and guards. Their versatility is similar to Draymond Green’s and Andre Iguodala’s.

These new Rockets have talent. And these new Rockets have home-court advantage - a rare edge over the Warriors, who have never started a playoff series on the road since Kerr became their head coach in 2014.

Kerr said he’s not concerned about playing in Houston, or the Rockets’ recent improvements, or the fact that a seventh game gets played in Houston. “Our guys have rings. That’s a good position to be in. To me, the hardest championship is the first one, as an individual player, and as a team, because you don’t know. You don’t quite know if you can do it. Once you get one, you want it again because it’s an unbelievable feeling.”

Neither Paul, nor Harden, nor Capela, nor Tucker, nor Mbah a Moute has ever experienced that.