OAKLAND – The absence of James Harden deprives the Warriors of their second wish on Saturday.
The first wish is, of course, to run the Rockets completely out of Oracle Arena.
The second was to do it with Harden being on the active roster and his streak of 32 games with at least 30 points still very much alive.
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But with Harden, coping with neck soreness and a touch of flu, declared out 90 minutes before tipoff, both teams are forced to make serious adjustments.
For the Warriors, the primary adjustment is mental, as they have to persuade their passion to remain high even with Houston’s leader and MVP candidate out of the lineup.
But they also have to figure out how to defend a team seen only 15 times since 2014. Harden has missed three games this season and 12 over the previous four.
For the Rockets, the change is dramatic. His presence is so stitched into everything they do that it’s a bit like the Warriors without Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry.
Golden State Warriors
Harden’s 40.8 percent usage rate is by far the highest in the NBA (Oklahoma City’s Russell Westbrook is second at 33.5 percent. The highest Warriors are Curry at 30.3 and Durant at 30.2).
The Houston lineup change will move Eric Gordon from small forward to shooting guard, with forward Kenneth Faried joining forward PJ Tucker and center Clint Capela up front.
Chris Paul, a natural point guard, will do his best to fill the void, which is massive. Harden is the league’s leading scorer (36.5 points per game) this season and is averaging 40.6 points over his last 34 games.
Paul is averaging 15.8 points. His season-high of 32 points, achieved against the Nets, came nearly four months ago (Nov. 2).
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“We’ll see how it goes,” Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni said. “If we can keep the floor spread and it doesn’t kill our offense and it helps our defensive rebounding, then we’ll go forward with it. There’s always a give and take. Hopefully nothing has to be sacrificed. If we’re better off that way, we’ll definitely go that way.”
Are the Warriors ripe for a letdown? Perhaps. But it’s still Houston, the team they love beating above all others.