Buoyed by James Harden's return to the lineup, the Houston Rockets picked up an impressive win on Saturday night, beating the Golden State Warriors 116-108.
Harden had 22 points, including a dagger step-back 3 over Curry to seal the win, while Chris Paul dropped 33 points. Those performances were not unexpected. Stepping up in a big way to help get the Rockets a key win was Clint Capela, who finished with 18 points, five rebounds and four steals.
His performance and the team's statement-making victory clearly had Capela feeling good because afterwords he made quite the bold statement. The Rockets, he said, are "better" than the Warriors. Via ESPN:
"We're confident because we know if we're doing what we're supposed to do, we're going to beat them," Rockets center Clint Capela told ESPN. "We've got to keep playing. We know that they're going to come back if we have the lead, and we've just got to keep that mindset. Sometimes I feel like, in the past, we were all dragging down after mistakes. But today, we were ready. I think that if we're doing what we're supposed to do on defense -- all the switches, the weak side -- and keep playing our offense by keeping that mentality all game long, we have the weapons to beat them.
"We are better than them."
The Rockets are a very good team, and last night they were better than the Warriors. They've even won two out of the three meetings between these teams this season. Of course, Capela and the rest of the Rockets should think they're better than the Dubs. If you don't believe you can beat a team, you're probably not going to beat them.
However, there was really no need for him to publicly make a statement like that. Now, Capela and the Rockets will have that quote hanging over their heads for the rest of the season -- and even more so if they meet the Warriors in the playoffs. That was probably a sentiment that he would have been better off just keeping in the locker room.
