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Houston Rockets big man Clint Capela caught Kevin Durant's attention when he told Tim MacMahon of ESPN.com his team is better than the Golden State Warriors after Saturday's victory.

"His job is not as hard," Durant said of Capela, per Anthony Slater of The Athletic. "When your job is that hard, you know you can't just come out there and say s--t like that. I don't expect that from CP [Chris Paul] and James [Harden] and [Trevor] Ariza and the rest of the guys because they know how hard it is to come out there and do that every night. Capela, catch and dunk every night, so it's pretty easy for him."

Slam magazine shared video of Durant's comments (NSFW):

The Warriors are the NBA's gold standard considering they have captured two of the last three championships and won a record 73 games during the regular season the one time they didn't earn the Larry O'Brien Trophy during that span.

They are once again atop the Western Conference standings at 37-10, but Capela and Houston appear to be their toughest competition.

The 32-12 Rockets hold the second-best record in the conference and are 2-1 in head-to-head matchups with the Warriors this season. They have playmakers in James Harden and Chris Paul who can go toe-to-toe with Golden State's array of go-to offensive weapons down the stretch of close games, as Harden proved Saturday when he drilled a step-back three right over Stephen Curry in the closing stretch to help secure the win.

Despite Durant's assertion his job isn't particularly difficult, Capela is also in the middle of his best season to date with 14.5 points, 10.8 rebounds and 1.7 blocks per game as a two-way threat anchoring the frontcourt play.

Most notably, the Rockets are a perfect 17-0 when Harden, Paul and Capela are all healthy and in the lineup, per Marc J. Spears of The Undefeated.

"We're for real, for real. We are for real as it can get," Harden said, per Spears. "I have never been this confident playing in my entire career, not only by adding Chris [Paul] but the rest of our team. We have a team with depth that at any moment can impact the game. We just got to stay locked in the rest of the season."

If Houston remains locked in, preventing it from reaching the NBA Finals will not be an easy job for Durant and the Warriors.

from Bleacher Report - Front Page http://ift.tt/2n35RWP