Rockets favored over Warriors despite 15 straight losses

Welcome to Layup Lines, For the Win’s basketball newsletter. Subscribe here to receive it in your inbox every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Got feedback for the Layup Lines team? Leave your questions, comments and concerns through this brief reader survey. Here is Prince J. Grimes.

In a way, four years is not a very long time. You can still think about the new music you were enjoying four years ago, the shows you started watching and things like that, and a lot of that stuff is probably still relevant and in rotation today. They probably don’t feel that old.

In other ways, however, four years can feel like a lifetime. Especially today when you think about all the monumental (and catastrophic) things that have happened in the world in the last four years. The Covid pandemic had not yet shaken us. The election deniers had not stormed the capital. Kendrick Lamar wasn’t down Mr. Morale & The Big Stepperslet alone demolish Drake in the biggest rap battle of all time. To get more personal, my three-year-old son didn’t exist and I wasn’t a homeowner yet. Heck, I still lived in another state.

In other words, a lot can happen in four years. But do you know one thing that hasn’t happened in the last four years? The Houston Rockets beat the Golden State Warriors. Here’s what.

No, really, it’s been that long for the Rockets, and we’re not far from the fifth anniversary of their last win over the Warriors. The date was February 2, 2020. and to further demonstrate just how long ago that was, Russell Westbrook and James Harden were still the Rockets—a team that hadn’t yet begun the rebuild they’re just now reaching on the other side of. The Warriors started a rookie named Jordan Poole and their dynasty seemed to be crumbling until a fourth title after Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson suffered serious injuries in the Finals loss to the Raptors a few months earlier and Steph Curry was lost for the season. The Rockets beat the Warriors by 30.

After that game, Golden State recorded 15 straight wins over the Rockets. And let’s not forget how, even before the series, Golden State tormented Houston in the playoffs, eliminating them in four of the previous five years. The Warriors have been a thorn in the side of the Rockets forever. Six of Houston’s top eight leaders in minutes played this season have NEVER beaten the Warriors.

But today, Houston has a chance to change the script. Today, the Rockets play the Warriors in the quarterfinals of the NBA Cup and are actually favored to win. They host Golden State in an elimination game with -135 moneyline odds and -2.5 spread. Today is the day they break the streak! right

Bettors certainly think so. At BetMGM, 69% of bets and 58% of money on the spread have coverage from Houston. And look, I know, it’s just a regular season game at the end of the day, but it would be a big deal for a young Rockets team that looks to finally turn the corner. At 16-8, they are third in the Western Conference, but have yet to do anything of note. Advancing to the NBA Cup would be a step in the right direction. Especially with a win over their frequent tormentors, Steph Curry, Draymond Green and the Warriors. It will be fun to see them give it their best shot.

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Injuries plague the NBA

If it seems like there are more injuries than usual this season, that’s because they are. And they haven’t just gone up a bit. Injuries increased significantly compared to the previous year, according to data from Jeff Stotts InStreetClothes Injury Tracking Database.

In Week 7 of this season alone, NBA players missed more than twice as many games as they missed in the same week last season due to injury or illness.

When the difference is so great from one year to the next, it’s only natural to want to find a reason for it. There has to be something that keeps players missing all this time, right? Well, not necessarily.

As our own Mike Sykes writes, sometimes injuries just can’t be explained:

“Again, there’s no rhyme or reason to this. At least not any obvious ones. There are certainly theories as to why players are so injured. Maybe it’s just that the players are forced to play more because of the new league rules. Or maybe it’s just a trend inherent in this era of the NBA where AAU basketball is so prevalent. Players play so much from early high school to the professional ranks.

It could also just be dumb luck! That’s more than I’m leaning towards at this point. We can fast forward to a month from now when some of these players will be healthy again and things may look completely different. We will have to wait and see.”

I think there is something to that. With players like Kawhi Leonard and Joel Embiid returning to the court, we could see this trend change very soon.

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Shooting

— Here’s Sykes again in the NBA ruining the greatest Christmas commercial ever

— LeBron James-Warriors trade rumors were shut down with 1 report

“LeBron is about to do it.” broke another “unbreakable” record owned by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar recording

— Shaq accidentally broke the Inside the NBA video board by hitting it

Thanks for reading as always. See you next week.