On January 31, Beijing time, the first day of the Chinese New Year, the NBA's wonderful games did not stop. At 9 a.m., the Warriors will challenge the Rockets on the road, and Tencent Sports will broadcast live. In addition to broadcasting wonderful events for everyone, Tencent Sports has also prepared generous gifts for everyone. "New Year Red Packet Rain" accompanies you to spend the New Year, genuine jerseys, tickets, Q coins, membership monthly card waiting for you to get.
Once upon a time, Fire Warrior battled Mars splashed around
When the Warriors reached the Finals for five consecutive years, they encountered the Rockets in the playoffs four times, and in frequent playoff encounters, the two teams became old enemies, and the concept of "Fire War" was formed.
In fact, in the 2014-15 season and the 2015-16 season, at the beginning of the Warriors' dynasty, the Rockets led by the Morden combination did not pose much challenge to the Warriors.
In the 2014-15 season, the Rockets unexpectedly reached the Western Conference Finals. In the first two games, the Rockets have only lost five points, and they have indeed caused a lot of trouble for the Warriors on the road. But back at home, the Rockets didn't fare as well on the road, losing 35 points in game three. In the fifth game of the series, Harden played a disaster-level performance of only 2 of 11 shots, 12 mistakes, and the Rockets finally lost by 14 points, and the big score was eliminated 1-4.
In the 2015-16 season, Harden plummeted because of his romantic relationship with Kohler Kardashian, and the Rockets' record slipped to 41 wins and 41 losses, barely reaching the playoffs. In the first round of the playoffs, even though Curry played less than 38 minutes due to injury and missed three of them, the Rockets were still powerless to beat the Warriors, and they were eventually eliminated by a big score of 1-4, losing more than 25 points in 3 of them.
The Rockets' real rival to the Warriors began in the summer of 2017, when the Rockets traded Paul to form a super backcourt combination. That season, Paul averaged 18.6 points and 7.9 assists per game, still the league's top point guard. In addition, Capela replaced Howard as the starting center after growing rapidly, surrounded by Paul, Harden to feed the cake, Capela averaged 13.9 points, 10.8 rebounds, 1.9 blocks per game, becoming an elite basketball finisher, got the reputation of "pie king".
In the 2017-18 playoffs, the Rockets once forced the Warriors into a desperate situation in the Western Conference Finals, leading 3-2. At that time, the Rockets cut the Warriors' offensive system with infinite changes, forcing the Warriors to enter the mode of single-handedness, while the Rockets gave full play to the roll call ability of the three backcourts in the face of the Warriors' infinite changes. Unfortunately, Paul's untimely injury and Capela's inability to punish misplaced defenses led to the Rockets' tragic reversal.
In the 2018-19 season, in the regular season, Harden led the Rockets to kill the Warriors. The Rockets didn't have Paul and Eric Gordon in that game, who were 20 points behind, Harden scored 44 points, 10 rebounds, 15 assists, and hit a difficult three-point shooter in the final moments of overtime against Klay Thompson and Draymond Green.
In the playoffs Western Conference semifinals, the Rockets had a chance to eliminate the Warriors, but after Kevin Durant fell due to injury, the Rockets did not seize the opportunity, and they were eventually eliminated 2-4. These two sniper Warrior failures have hurt the Rockets' confidence greatly, and in the summer of 2019, after the Rockets sent Paul away, they basically withdrew from the championship camp.
Now, the fire war is no longer human
The summer of 2019 was a turning point for both the Warriors and the Rockets, who lost Durant and Thompson in the finals against the Raptors and missed the championship. In the offseason, the Warriors lost Durant, Livingston and other champions, and took the initiative to send Iguodala to reduce the salary burden. For the next two seasons, the Warriors missed the playoffs.
The Rockets sent Paul away in exchange for Westbrook, and gave up Capela to play five in the middle of the 2019-20 season, originally wanting to make a breakthrough through crazy experiments, but the Rockets' experiment ended in failure, and the 2019-20 season stopped in the Western Conference semifinals. In the 2020 offseason, Westbrook and Harden made a trade, and the Rockets were forced into rebuild mode. Last season, the Rockets won just 17 wins and got a pick in the offseason.
Today's Rockets and Warriors are already human beings, the Rockets are basically only new generation and middle generation players, and the only one who has experienced the Fire War is Eric Gordon. There are many people in the Warriors' squad who have experienced the fire war of that year, but in the past three years, the Warriors have also changed dramatically, and their lineup has more mesozoic players such as Wiggins, and has also cultivated young players such as Poole. Klay Thompson has just returned from a 941-day injury window, and the Feb. 1 game against the Rockets will be his first game with the Rockets in three years.
Looking back at the fire war of that year, and then looking at the current version of the fire war, the Warriors have been dormant for two years and returned to the championship camp, Curry, Green, Thompson are still the core trident of the Warriors, they also have new stars such as Cuminga, both hope to win the present, but also have the opportunity to win in the future. The Rockets are still in the first stage of reconstruction and are experiencing a dark period of chaos, and the core players of the Rockets, such as Harden and Capela, are now playing key players in other teams, and the situation of the two teams is regrettable.
In the future, the goals of the two teams in the Year of the Tiger are different
This season, the mention of "Fire War" can only be a memory of the past, the rebuilding Rockets can no longer pose a threat to the Warriors, the first 2 encounters with the Rockets are the losers. It's no wonder that the two teams have different goals this season. With the arrival of the Year of the Tiger, the Warriors' goal is to compete for the championship, while the Rockets' goal is only to cultivate young players and fight for the title.
What the current Warriors need most is Curry to find his touch, in January this year, Curry shot only 37.4%, three-point shooting rate of only 31.4%, true shooting rate of 51.6%, which is the worst performance of his career in a single month. Curry also tried to find a way to feel it, such as adjusting technical movements, but with little effect. Interestingly, Curry's brightest moment in January was played against the Rockets, and that singles shot was Curry's first whistle-blowing kill of his career.
What the Rockets need most at the moment is Green to break through the rookie wall, and Green has said that he has studied Curry's technical moves and hopes to learn Curry's playing style. In January, Green fell into the same slump as Curry, shooting just 33.3 percent from the field and 24.3 percent from three-point range.
In this confrontation, what kind of performance can Curry and Green play each? Can Thompson play against the Rockets after a gap of 3 years regain his former glory?
Welcome fans and friends to lock tencent sports on the first day of the Chinese New Year to watch the live broadcast. Tencent Sports not only prepared a wonderful live broadcast of the event for everyone, but also prepared a wealth of gifts. During the live broadcast of the event, Tencent Sports set up a red envelope rain activity, you only need to participate in the activity during the opening time, you have the opportunity to get NBA genuine jerseys, Q coins, Tencent Sports member monthly card, spectator tickets and other gifts.
Surprise gifts, waiting for you to pick them up.