The Houston Rockets (16-4) will come in to Oracle Arena looking to snap the Golden State Warriors' (18-2) franchise-record 13-game winning streak.
Houston was without Patrick Beverley, Terrence Jones, and Dwight Howard in a matchup against Golden State earlier this year and look to be coming in to this game still bitten by injuries. Without Beverley, Stephen Curry wasn't to be stopped, as he dropped 34 points on Houston last time out, but this time the defensive specialist, Beverley, will be out their hounding Curry.
Although Beverley will be playing, Dwight Howard (knee), Terrence Jones (leg), Isaiah Canaan (ankle), and Kostas Papanikolaou (knee) have all been ruled out. Francisco Garcia (ankle) is listed as doubtful, while James Harden (back spasms) will give it a go.
37-year-old veteran, Jason Terry, has been thrust into a larger role, playing 30-plus minutes in each of the last four games, including 43 minutes against the Minnesota Timberwolves on December 5th. He answered the bell during that stretch by averaging 16.5 points per game, but most importantly, contributed to four straight wins and will likely be heavily relied upon to make a push for a fifth straight win.
Golden State will be without David Lee (hamstring) again and have listed Andrew Bogut (knee) as questionable. With Dwight Howard sitting out this game, Houston will be forced to play small-ball, making it a perfect game for Golden State to give Bogut the day off to let the knee heal up. If Bogut does indeed sit out, Marreese Speights, who has scored in double figures in 11 out of the last 12 games, will likely see an uptick in minutes to matchup with a smaller, more agile Houston team.
In a Western Conference that is as strong as ever, even with a 18-2 record, Golden State can't take any games off if they want to remain in position to get home court advantage in the playoffs. Currently in seventh place in the West are the Dallas Mavericks, who are 16-7 and only 3.5 games back of first place Golden State.
Golden State can't take an injury-ravaged Houston team lightly because they need to keep winning as they will see that seventh place Dallas team next game on Saturday. One off week for any of the West teams who are currently in the top four and looking at home court advantage for the playoffs could drop them all the way to seventh and leave them with no home court advantage.
Golden State leads the league in opposing team field goal percentage at 40.9 percent, while Houston is no slouch in that category, limiting opponents to 42.6 percent shooting. Even with dynamic scorers on the court, such as Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, and James Harden, the game could end up being a rugged slug-fest rather than a shootout.
Looking to build on an already franchise-record 13-game winning streak, Golden State can't come in to games assuming they will just easily win. So far, during this win streak, they haven't gotten ahead of themselves, playing every game with maximum effort.
Will Houston put an end to Golden State's marvelous winning streak or will the streak live another day?