Warriors Continue to Play 'Daddy' Role vs. Rockets

Death, taxes, and the Houston Rockets losing to the Golden State Warriors in the playoffs.

The Rockets' elimination in Game 7 against the Golden State Warriors marked the fifth time in the last seven playoff appearances that the Rockets have been eliminated by arguably their biggest rival.

The Athletic insider Anthony Slater looks at the recent history between the two teams over the last decade.

"In the Steph Curry playoff era, now stretching well past a decade, the Warriors have met the Rockets in the playoffs five times. They’ve now beaten them in all five series," Slater wrote.

"They broke the heart of the James Harden version in 2015, 2016, 2018 and 2019. Now, after a full Houston rebuild, the Warriors — still led by the older Curry and Draymond Green — repeated the same act against these younger second-seeded Rockets, winning Game 7 on the road. It’s the third time Curry and Green have closed out Houston in Houston."

Even with an entirely new iteration of the Rockets, they could not figure out a way to get past Curry and Green in the playoffs. A lot of that can come down to experience, or lack thereof, from the Rockets, or the offensive differences between the two teams.

Simply put, the Warriors stepped up when it mattered most, and the 3-pointers kept flying in Houston, especially from Buddy Hield, who made nine of them in Game 7 after going scoreless in Game 6.

The Rockets will now have to go back to the drawing board and figure out what needs to happen to ensure this doesn't happen again in the future.