Trevor Ariza Says the Quiet Part Out Loud About Rockets-Warriors 2018 Series

The Daryl Morey-led Houston Rockets worked tirelessly to emulate the superteam Golden State Warriors. The Rockets sought to construct a roster that could dethrone the Dubs, who eliminated them from postseason contention in consecutive seasons between 2014-2016.

The Rockets acquired future Hall of Fame point guard Chris Paul in 2017, adding to an existing core of James Harden, the league's top scorer in the previous season, and Mike D'Antoni, the 2016-17 Coach of the Year.

Not to mention Eric Gordon, who nabbed Sixth Man of the Year in the same season. The Rockets also had 3-and-D wings, like P.J. Tucker and Trevor Ariza, giving them a well-rounded roster.

Ultimately, it wasn't enough to get them past the Dubs that year, as Paul suffered an injury in Game 5 of the Western Conference Finals matchup between the two teams. Questions have existed, regarding whether the Rockets would've eliminated the Warriors had Paul not been injured.

The aforementioned Ariza joined the Run Your Race podcast and answered the question once and for all.

"For sure. I mean, yeah. We were gonna win. I'm confident that we were gonna win if CP was healthy."

Ariza continued.

"We mirrored their style of play. They were built similar to how we were built."

Ariza described James Harden's innate ability to score with ease.

James, he figured out how to score the basketball. He had it.

The s-t he was doing was crazy. Just being on the court sometimes, you'd kinda fall asleep just watching bruh. Like damn. 

He really did that. You couldn't do nothing with that. It's kinda like Luka right now. What can you do with him right now?"

Ariza left the Rockets in the 2018 offseason, opting for a one-year deal with the Phoenix Suns that was worth upto $15 million- the most he ever made in a single season.

The Rockets-Warriors duel continued once more in the 2019 Western Conference Semifinals, and the result remained unchanged, as the Dubs defeated the Rockets within six games.