HOUSTON -- Houston Rockets owner Leslie Alexander said his team has a good chance to beat the Golden State Warriors in the Western Conference finals, which starts Tuesday in Oakland.
"They had the most wins in the league," Alexander said after Sunday's series-clinching victory over the Los Angeles Clippers. "A great shooting team, but we have a competitive fire and a competitive spirit. We have two superstars [Dwight Howard and James Harden]. We play really good defense. We hit the boards. We got a good chance."
The Warriors, who are the favorites to win the NBA title, have beaten the Rockets not only on the court but off it as well. The Warriors won all four regular-season meetings between the teams and in the postseason awards, and Harden was second in the voting for the MVP to Stephen Curry.
"I thought he should have been the MVP," Alexander said of Harden, who finished second in the NBA in scoring. "He's a great, great player. Great players always bounce back."
Alexander was alluding to Harden missing all but 10 seconds of the fourth quarter of the Game 6 victory where the Rockets rallied from 19 points down to force a Game 7. On Sunday, Harden scored a game-high 31 points with eight assists and seven rebounds.
