In the finale of a tough four-game Western Conference road trip and the second night of a back-to-back, the young Houston Rockets travel to San Francisco to face the defending NBA champion Golden State Warriors on Saturday night at Chase Center.
Led by career games from rookie forwards Jabari Smith Jr. and Tari Eason, the Rockets came very close to winning when the two sides met in Houston two weeks ago. In fact, it took historic games by both Steph Curry and Klay Thompson to narrowly hold off Houston.
To say the least, the Rockets wouldn’t mind taking their chances with a comparable effort in the return visit to San Francisco. They do enter with momentum after a feel-good victory in Phoenix on Friday, headlined by 30 points from a very aggressive Jalen Green.
The Warriors are on the second night of a back-to-back, as well, and they played all of their veterans like Curry, Thompson, Draymond Green, and Andrew Wiggins on Friday. Thus, it’s at least possible that head coach Steve Kerr might opt to rest some players on Saturday.
Then again, with both games at home and no travel in between, that could make Kerr more likely to be aggressive and chase the win.