PREVIEW: Warriors (4-0) at Rockets (6-0) — Battle of the Unbeatens

Golden State Warriors (4-0) at Houston Rockets (6-0)

Tip-off: Saturday, November 8th, 2014 – 5:00 P.M. PDT

Location: Toyota Center, Houston, Texas

TV: CSN Bay Area

Live Tweet: @LetsGoWarriors #LetsGoWarriorsLive

Projected Starting Lineups:

Warriors:

PG: Stephen Curry (26 PPG, 7 APG, 6.5 RPG)

SG: Klay Thompson (27 PPG, 2.5 APG, 2.3 RPG)

SF: Harrison Barnes (9.3 PPG,2.3 APG, 4.8 RPG)

PF: Draymond Green (12.5 PPG, 2.8 APG, 7.3 RPG)

C: Andrew Bogut (6.3 PPG, 2.8 APG, 10.3 RPG)

Head Coach: Steve Kerr

Rockets:

PG: Isaiah Canaan (7.8 PPG, 1.5 APG, 1.7 RPG)

SG: James Harden (26 PPG, 7.2 APG, 6.7 RPG)

SF: Trevor Ariza (15.8 PPG, 3.2 APG, 5 RPG)

PF: Donatas Motiejunas (3 PPG, 1 APG, 4.2 RPG)

C: Dwight Howard (19.7 PPG, 1.3 APG, 11.5 RPG)

Head Coach: Kevin McHale

Last Time Out: Warriors defeated the Los Angeles Clippers, 121-104, as Green posted a career-high 24 points and held Blake Griffin to 1 rebound.

Scouting report: (click here)

Feature: Harden’s EuroStep

Key injuries: GSW: David Lee (re-aggravated hamstring, will be re-evaluated in two weeks); HOU: Terrence Jones (leg), Patrick Beverley (hamstring).

Bruce Jenkins of the San Francisco Chronicle:

The Rockets’ quick start was wholly unexpected. If it wasn’t bad enough to lose out on free agent Chris Bosh, originally thought to be an automatic signing, Chandler Parsons fled to Dallas (another shocker) and Jeremy Lin and Omer Asik were traded.
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Even with stellar defender Patrick Beverley injured, the Rockets look complete and inspired, thanks greatly to free-agent acquisition Trevor Ariza, whose combination of leadership, scoring potential and defensive ability prompted Reggie Miller to call him “an upgrade over Parsons” on Thursday night’s ESPN telecast.

Diamond Leung of the Bay Area News Group:

The talk wasn’t so much about the 4-0 Warriors being fired up to go on the road and face 6-0 Houston on Saturday, but rather a consistency of effort Kerr demands for every game.
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“We haven’t had one yet that hasn’t felt big, and that’s a good thing,” Kerr said. “We want every game to feel the same. We should be prepared and ready no matter who we’re playing.
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“One of the things I’ve told our guys is that in many ways, we just play against ourselves every night. We’re going to win a lot of games. We’re going to lose some games. But if we’re playing to our potential, then we should be in pretty good shape by the end of the year.”