Golden State Warriors: Ranking their greatest threats in the West

1. Houston Rockets

The tale of the Houston Rockets’ 2018-19 campaign has been an interesting one, to say the least. They started the season with an 11-14 mark and were one of the worst teams in the league from a defensive standpoint.

Since that time, however, Houston has posted 34 wins in its last 46 outings, which equates to a winning percentage of .739 during that span. What makes their emergence even more impressive is Chris Paul went down with a hamstring injury that forced him to miss 17 games.

Instead of crumbling with one of their star players out of the lineup, though, the Rockets went on to win 11 of those 17 games and they now have the third-best record in the conference — something that seemed unlikely not that long ago.

The key to Rockets’ success has been the outstanding play of reigning MVP James Harden, who leads the league in scoring with 35.8 points per contest and had an impressive 32-game stretch in which he scored at least 30 points — the second longest streak in NBA history.

One of the things to like about Houston is the fact that it held its own against the Dubs in the conference finals a year ago. In that series, the Rockets were one win away from earning their first trip to the Finals since 1995.

If not for CP3 going down with an injury in Game 5 and a dismal shooting performance in which the Rockets missed 27 straight shots from beyond the arc in Game 7, the series might have had a different outcome.

The Rockets have had to overcome the odds all year to get to where they’re at right now, and if they can stay healthy, they have more than an outside shot of beating the Warriors in a playoff series.