Getty Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors drives to the basket defended by James Harden of the Houston Rockets in the third quarter.
With the series tied at two games apiece heading into a pivotal game five showdown at Oracle Arena, the Golden State Warriors and Houston Rockets are once again embroiled in a heated playoff series. Playing in the same conference, the teams are relatively familiar with one another, having met four times this season. They also played a total of ten times last year, going seven games in a classic Western Conference Finals matchup.
This season’s versions of both teams are fairly similar. Both return all the key components and while Houston lost a few members of the supporting cast, they have some new blood that helps give them a slightly different look. Most notably, the loss of Trevor Ariza hurts on the wing, where he functioned as a perfect ‘Three and D’ spot-up shooter alongside Chris Paul and James Harden. However, they did recently pick up Kenneth Faried, who has had a renaissance year in a system that actually uses his strengths.
Golden State Warriors vs. Houston Rockets Season Series: Who Won Regular-Season Matchups?
Despite the Warriors being the top-seeded team in the West, the Rockets actually won the season series 3-1. The Rockets thrashed the Warriors in their first meeting before sneaking away with an overtime thriller in the second showdown on the year. The Rockets would pick up yet another win in February to move to 3-0 on the year against the Warriors. However, the Warriors would pick up the last win of the season series between the two teams in another closely contested affair.
Outside of the Rockets’ blowout game one win, every other game was decided by single digit points and were incredibly close games that either team could have won. Similar to how their playoff series is shaping up, the two teams are clearly as evenly matched as can be.
Houston Rockets vs. Golden State Warriors All-Time Head to Head Record
The Rockets hold a 124-93 lead over the Warriors all-time in the regular season. The Rockets won 11 consecutive meetings between the two teams in the early 90s as well as a nine-game win streak from 2008-2010. While the Warriors also had a solid eight-game streak from 2014-2016, the Rockets have historically dominated the matchup.
That said, the Rockets have won the regular season head to head series each of the past two seasons now, including last year when Golden State would go on to win the championship. With each team set for the foreseeable future with at least one MVP each, it should be interesting to keep an eye on the all-time head to head record as Stephen Curry and James Harden do battle over their respective careers.