You could feel it in the air, no matter where you were, as Steph Curry hit two dagger threes to close out the Memphis Grizzlies and every Rockets fan’s breath collectively caught in their throat. Our longstanding nightmare is coming back to life. Yet another playoff matchup between the Golden State Warriors and the Houston Rockets. Can the Houston Rockets break the cycle of trauma against the Golden State Warriors?
It’s the eerie scene of all the kids leaving the block and running indoors, telling everyone, “Omar coming!” No matter how old, outnumbered, or wounded they are, the chaotic and savvy Warriors unearth a particular fear in the hearts of Rockets fans in which the only good comparison I can think of is generational trauma (which is way too serious of a comp and in no way compares to actual trauma that people have experienced, but stick with me). According to the American Psychological Association, [inter]generational trauma is described as “the transmission of trauma or its legacy, in the form of a psychological consequence of an injury or attack, poverty, and so forth, from the generation experiencing the trauma to subsequent generations.” As one era of Rockets basketball was tortured by these guys, so the next bears the weight of those scars and the anticipation of defeat. If the new look Houston Rockets want to move on to the next round, they have to break the cycle of trauma.
How this all started
I know… I don’t need to walk through the minutia of the 2015-2019 playoff runs for all of you. It’s too gruesome to relive. However, according to a quick internet search, one of the ways we overcome this kind of trauma is through storytelling. We talk through the realities that got us to this point and we call them what they really are instead of the boogeymen that they’ve become.
The Harden era in Houston was taking full shape after a couple of extremely disappointing first round exits against the Thunder and Trail Blazers. We managed a miracle comeback against the Clippers in the ’14/’15 postseason to face off against the up-and-coming Warriors in our first Western Conference Finals since the ’96/’97 season. It was a slugfest with a lot of ups and downs. Ultimately, Curry and co. prevailed in a game 5 elimination where James Harden went 2-11 with 12 turnovers.
One year later, the Rockets would stumble into the playoffs after firing Head Coach, Kevin McHale, in favor of interim J.B. Bickerstaff because of slow start to the season and a series of lackluster playoff performances on the resumé. We’d face, you guessed it, the Warriors and lose in a “can’t forget these games soon enough” five game series. Harden was actually awesome statistically in that elimination game and was still a -27 so let that speak for how ready the team was for this matchup.
Then the vibe shifted drastically. Mike D’Antoni was hired in the offseason leading into the ’16/’17 and made the career altering move to officially make James Harden the full time point guard. His assists numbers skyrocketed as he was catapulted into the MVP conversation and officially introduced his heavy iso style as the engine of the Rockets offense. Unfortunately, James’ playoff demons would come around to haunt him once again as the Rockets were closed out by the Kawhi-less Spurs in one of the most embarrassing performances I have ever seen by one of my teams in the postseason. We all remember Harden’s 10 points and getting packed up by ancient Manu Ginobli to ends the game. Just yikes. Though the end of that season was caused by the Spurs rather than the Warriors, the way we ultimately folded makes it a part of the story that can’t go untold.
The rise and fall of the Harden Era
Now we get to the turn that has catalyzed the majority of Rockets fans’ war flashbacks. The ’17/’18 and ’18/’19 seasons that each ended in disturbing and frustrating fashion.
’17/’18 is the one that sticks out the most, given this was our return to the Western Conference Finals after winning 65 games and securing the 1 seed throughout the playoffs. Not to mention the addition of Chris Paul, who became his best teammate during his Rockets tenure despite the national doubt that they would be able to make the fit work. Everything looked poised for a Houston Finals appearance. Then, as you well know, Chris Paul goes down at the end of a huge Game 5 win for the Rockets and missed the rest of the series. The Rockets led in the second half of games 6 and 7 but were ultimately overcome by the lack of a second star, a record setting 27 consecutive missed threes, and a flurry of reckless closeouts that would have led to an avalanche of flagrant fouls in the modern NBA. Mix that with Game 6 Klay and 80 points from the Warriors big 3 in Game 7 and you get sent packing, searching desperately for a way to bounce back next year.
They didn’t find it. Harden had an insane MVP campaign (2nd to Antetokounmpo) in which he averaged 36/7/7 to carry a team that missed Chris Paul for most of the season. When the Rockets needed him most in the Western Conference Semifinals against the Warriors (fourth time in five years), he average a cool 34.8 PPG on 54.9 TS% that just wasn’t enough to life the rest of that team over the hump. The Rockets lost in six games.
What’s different about the Rockets’ trauma? Wasn’t every team in the league plagued by these Warriors superteams that lauded one of the best offenses in NBA history alongside a stellar defense and insurmountable star power? Aside from the LeBron Cavs taking down the pre-KD team in 2016 and the Raptors feasting on the remains of an injury riddled playoff run, Golden State ruined playoff basketball for just about everyone.
No team got closer to beating the healthy KD Warriors than the Houston Rockets. We got a taste for what it would be like to conquer these guys and taste NBA glory for the first time since Hakeem and Clyde lifted the Larry O’Brien. Yet every postseason, no matter how close they got, they just couldn’t get it done. At the end of the day, close doesn’t count. And that makes it sting even more. To know that you could have done something, and to fall short, bugs you even more. Gets in your head and finds a home there.
That’s what has happened to us as a fanbase. We’ve been so deeply hurt by these losses to this specific team that, at this point, turmoil feels like a foregone conclusion. That’s why it reminds me of real world trauma.
The New Age
This “sports trauma,” if you will, becomes generational when you look at our history with this franchise since the departure of Harden, CP3, Russ, Capela, Tucker, etc. Since the start of the 2020 season (same year the rebuild began) the Rockets have a 2-16 record against Golden State. Of course, Houston was trying to lose for three of the seasons since then, but when you have this kind of skid against a team who has continually beat you down in recent playoff memory you can’t help but connect the two.
The majority of that 2-16 record is a 15 game losing streak where the Rockets didn’t win a matchup for four full seasons. Even that came to an end because of a wild game that Houston almost fumbled in the NBA Cup semis before Jalen Green was awarded two free throws to decide the game.
So it’s not just that the Golden State Warriors are good and have employed some of the smartest, most skilled, and most dynamic players that the sport has ever seen. It’s not just that they have sent us home sad in the postseason multiple times. Their victories over the Houston Rockets feel spellbound. It feels like heaven and earth must be moved in order to counter whatever hold it is that they have over the Rockets, no matter the era.
Simply put, we have learned over and over and over again that we lose to these guys. Especially when the moment is biggest and the lights are brightest.
How will they break the cycle?
So, if you need a hysterical moment on X to bemoan the impending matchup… I get it. If you feel like it’s certain doom, I understand. But one thing we’re not going to do is have preemptive funeral for a series that hasn’t even happened yet. We are here to rewrite generational wounds, to tell a new story. A story that is informed by the past but never determined by it. Your Houston Rockets can do that very thing over the next two weeks.
We saw how during their most recent matchup on April 6th. Houston just about controlled most of the second half, but just like they do, Golden State created chaos and started runs that threatened the young Rockets’ composure. Draymond tried to frazzle Şengün, Curry tried to get the refs on his side, and Jalen Green was having his typical Warriors matchup where he completely forgets how to score no matter how well he was playing in recent games. Honestly, I was convinced at any moment the lead would evaporate and the boys would crumble to an embarrassing loss.
I was wrong. Şengün answered every one of Draymond’s antics with a tornado of physicality and touch. Amen’s defensive performance against Curry led to one of the worst games of his career, and Jalen finally remembered how to play basketball and scored 10 straight in the closing minutes to keep the Warriors at arm’s length. Add all that to the fact that they did this on the road against the hottest team in the NBA since the trade deadline.
Those three guys are the key. Houston has the role players who can find their place and keep up the intensity against any opponent. Tari will be in full agent of chaos Joker mode, Jabari will continue his sneaky important perimeter defense and rebounding, and Fred and Dillon will be steady no matter their efficiency (I think). But will Alperen Şengün, Amen Thompson, and Jalen Green show that they have the nerve to stand up to any opponent?
I think the answer is, “yes.” Few reasons: First, Ime is the exact kind of coach you want to guide young guys through these kinds of mental obstacles. He’s very pragmatic, but he’s also a player’s coach. He connects with them, and you know he’s doing whatever he can to try and light a fire under them. Second, we already know that Amen isn’t going to back down to anyone. Couple that with the fact he grew up hating the Warriors because of his LeBron fandom and you’ve got someone ready to shut down an entire team.
Third, Şengün is a competitive psycho. He ducks no smoke and goes straight into the body of anyone trying to shut him down. He was a star in the Turkish league before he ever stepped foot in America, so the lights aren’t new to him. He’ll be ready and eager to take on this new challenge. Lastly, the most polarizing member of the Houston Rockets, by fans and media alike, Jalen Green. He is coming into the playoffs with the biggest question marks. As it’s been said, Houston has been in need of a go-to perimeter creator for much of the season and has had to settle with the limitations of Fred VanVleet for long stretches.
However, we’ve seen a night and day different in Green since VanVleet was sidelined for a while with and ankle injury. He’s become more comfortable handling pressure, orchestrating the offense, and using his gravity to create advantages for his teammates. He’s also shown the ability to clutch up and hit big shots to start and stop runs. He needs to do it at the next level now, but I think we’ve seen a mentality and gameplay that transfers nicely if he can just remain aggressive. Make no mistake, the Warriors will try to take him out of every game. It’s up to him to make that impossible. Things like this quotation from Danielle Lerner’s Houston Chronicle story on Şengün and Green’s journey make me confident we’ll see the right mentality from Green:
“Green is focused on unlocking the best version of himself for the upcoming postseason. He said he recently sat down and watched film of players who find another gear in the playoffs: LeBron James, Dwayne Wade, Paul George and Kawhi Leonard. But the players he most wants to emulate are Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant, two all-time great known not just for their skill but for their relentless competition mentality.”
The role of the fans
If we’re going to beg that our players enter this postseason mentally tough, then maybe we should try to do the same. Stop expecting defeat. Stop anticipating past failures repeating themselves. We’ve never beat Steph in the playoffs? Great. No one ever did anything until someone did. Avoiding the Warriors won’t help us to move on. It’s like Dumbledore telling Harry to freely use Voldemort’s name because refusing to say it out of fear gives it more power than it deserves. You can be weary of the matchup from a basketball standpoint, but don’t be afraid of the name.
“Call him Voldemort, Harry. Always use the proper name for things. Fear of a name increases fear of the thing itself.”
– Albus Dumbledore in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
Rockets’ fans should be excited. Not because you’re forced to face the demons of your past with your darling new team, but because you get the opportunity to open a new chapter of Houston Rockets basketball with the rewriting of generational trauma and the thunderous celebration of the healing journey. The dam is about to break, and a triumphant era of Rockets basketball is about to come flooding in.
Also, your team is the 2 seed. Time to act like it. Happy Playoffs.
Can the Houston Rockets break the cycle of trauma against the Golden State Warriors?
