The Warriors Effectively Ended The Rockets Season Last Night And Then Wasted No Time Burying Them For Talking Shit

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Life sure was a whole lot different a week ago for the Houston Rockets. Coming off a big 132-126 OT win over the Thunder, it marked the 10th straight win for a team that was looking to crash the Play In Party. At that time the Warriors were playing around .500 basketball, so the race between the two teams was pretty tight heading into the final few weeks of the season.

As a result of that win and how things looked in the standings, Tari Eason and the Rockets did the one thing you absolutely cannot do whenever you are trying to take on the challenge of taking down the Warriors.

He poked the bear

At the time, Draymond Green made it clear that he wasn't worried about the Rockets, and at the time I blogged that maybe he should be given how well they were playing and how many issues the Warriors still seemed to have.

I would like to take his opportunity to apologize to Draymond. He was right and I was wrong. We all were wrong. The Warriors did not need to worry about the Rockets. It did not matter how many games they were winning at the time, ultimately they were not a threat.

Fast forward to today, and the Warriors effectively ended the Rockets' season last night with their blowout road win. Talk about adding insult to injury, you talk all that shit only for the team you're trying to troll to come into your arena and end your season by kicking the shit out of you? That's tough. After all that winning a few weeks ago, the Rockets have currently lost 3 straight and now sit 4 behind GS (which is really 5 since GS has the tiebreaker) with 6 to play, so I think it's safe to say their season is over.

The Warriors on the other hand? Winners of 6 straight. A team that looked dead as nails a few weeks ago suddenly looks like the same old Warriors that just won't fucking die

Here's the thing. Talking shit is great. We could always use more of it in sports as long as you're not some sort of weird asshole about it. Anything that adds more juice to a matchup is something I'm in favor for. The only issue is the person talking shit can't be a player who is not active. Tari Eason has been out since January 3rd. He was writing checks that his teammates were going to have to cash, and it sort of reminded me of the famous Drake tweet from over 10 years ago that is used strictly for moments like this

So not only did he provide the motivation and give the Warriors new life, he also opened up the doors to be called out about it, which Klay Thompson & Co certainly didn't hold back with

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What made the night even tougher was the fact that Tari Eason was on the bench wearing a "Warriors come out to play" t-shirt. Whoops! 

If this feels familiar, it's because we've seen it before with the Warriors and another young team that made the terrible mistake of talking shit and trying to troll, only for it to blow up in their faces immediately.

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Almost exactly to the day as the Eason chirp too! That is both incredible and should terrify every team in the West that we may have another deep Warriors run on our hands, just like 2022 (sigh). 

The point is this. Take it from someone who lived it and had a 2-1 lead in the Finals with the Warriors on the ropes. They are not dead and buried until they are actually dead and buried. Until that clock hits 0.0, shut the fuck up. Do not bait them, do not troll them, do not poke the bear. You know when the Rockets should have been talking shit? The moment they actually passed GS. Unfortunately, that never happened at any point in their streak. They couldn't resist and probably started getting high on their own hype. They were the talk of the league for a second with their streak and what might be possible, and as a young team it probably went to their heads a little bit. 

But when it came time to put up or shut up, the Warriors did what the Warriors seem to do time and time again. They ended someone's season.

While their road certainly won't be easy this time around, given how GS is playing things definitely are not set in stone. The one thing we know is they won't fall out of 10th, but everything else? There is still work to be done to figure out how the final seeding shakes out

The Warriors close the season with DAL/UTA/LAL/POR/NO/UTA, so is it totally crazy to think they could slide up a little bit to maybe the 9/8 spot? They are 1-1 vs NO, 2-1 vs LAL, and 2-2 vs SAC. There's a world where the Kings find a way to slide to 7th, and then GS wins the H2Hs against LAL/NO and catches them, which would put them in a position to potentially leap them as well. 

Whatever you may have thought about GS a few weeks ago, you may as well forget it at this point. They are not dead, and you're lying to yourself if you're a fan of some of these other 7-10 seeded teams and you're not nervous about a healthy GS and Steph Curry. You want to face a team like this where all it takes is one bad night and your season is over? You know the Warriors will be ready, they've been here before. They've won every type of big game you can imagine, and at the moment they're playing the best basketball of their season. 

If I could give any advice to the PHX/NO/SAC/LAL's, it would be to stay off social media. Do not troll GS after you have a big win. History has shown us that more often than not, that translates into the kiss of death and the next thing you know Steph Curry dancing on your grave and Klay Thompson gets in front of the mic and basically calls you a bunch of bitches. 

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And you know what? As long as GS continues to win that's exactly what they should do.