The Houston Rockets are the NBA's hottest team, riding a 10-game winning streak that has them only one game behind the Warriors for the Western Conference's final play-in tournament spot.
After a 132-126 overtime win over the No. 1 seed Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday, Rockets forward Tari Eason -- who's sidelined for the season with a leg injury -- offered the Warriors a taunt of sorts on social media.
Eason quoted the classic 1979 film, "The Warriors," citing a line where actor David Patrick Kelly famously challenges: "Warriors, come out to play."
Stay in the game with the latest updates on your beloved Bay Area and California sports teams! Sign up here for our All Access Daily newsletter.
The Warriors and Rockets will meet for a third and final time this season in a pivotal April 4 clash in Houston. Golden State won both of the previous meetings, and will aim for a season sweep that could stave off an upstart Houston squad that rounded into form down the stretch.
While the faces have changed over the years, these teams are no strangers to seeing each other in big-time matchups, with the Warriors and Rockets squaring off in four different NBA playoff series since the 2014-15 season.
Golden State has won all four of those series, including some unforgettable performances on the road in Houston. Among them: The Warriors' 118-113 win over the Rockets in Game 6 of the 2019 Western Conference semifinals, in which Steph Curry famously scored 33 second-half points to lift Golden State.
Golden State Warriors
Times have changed since that night nearly five years ago, but the Warriors' reliance on Curry's heroics remains the same. The 36-year-old superstar has the chance to deliver yet another gut punch to a Rockets franchise he has dominated over the years, and Eason's trash talk could be the perfect motivator.
Download and follow the Dubs Talk Podcast