5 reasons why the Houston Rockets will beat the Golden State Warriors in the playoffs

#4 Greater depth

Eric Gordon is in contention for a second consecutive Sixth Man of the Year award

The Rockets have a plethora of options to get their scoring from and have possibly the deepest roster in the NBA in terms of offensive talent. While their starting five of Chris Paul, James Harden, Trevor Ariza, Ryan Anderson, and Clint Capela is an intimidating proposition in itself, their bench is really the deepest in the Western Conference.

Eric Gordon was named the league's Sixth Man of the Year on the strength of his 16.2 points per game average last year, and he has now raised his volume to a mean 18.4 points per outing. Gerald Green has found a new lease of life after signing with the Rockets in December and is averaging of 18.9 points and 5.1 rebounds per 36 minutes (he plays over 21 minutes per game).

In addition, the Rockets are integrating Joe Johnson (a clutch performer waived by the Utah Jazz earlier this season), who is slowly starting to hit top gear as he finds his feet within D'Antoni's rotations.

Luc M'bah a Moute and PJ Tucker are two versatile defenders who see significant game time, and are also capable of scoring from long range. As good as they are defensively, the Warriors will not be able to negate this scoring punch for more than a couple of games in a prospective playoff series.