HOUSTON (SportsRadio 610) -- If you thought the first three games between the Rockets and Los Angeles Clippers were emotionally high-charged games, get ready for the final regular season meeting Thursday night at Toyota Center.
"They're one of the best teams out there, if not the best," Rockets head coach Mike D'Antoni said Wednesday. "It's always going to be a good game. This just has a little bit more implication now than in November, just getting closer to playoff time."
There have been 11 technical fouls, three ejections and a flagrant foul called in the first three matchups between the Western Conference rivals, all of which were played before Christmas.
Add to it sniping at each other on the floor and in the media, it's clear those games meant a little bit more.
"I think our games early on against good teams that everybody talks about are gonna play in the playoffs have all been good," Rockets center P.J. Tucker said. "The Lakers, the Clippers, Utah, everybody in top of the West when we play each other, doesn't matter. They're all good. Everybody brings their A-game. It makes it fun. It makes the season fun and exciting."
The first matchup ended in a nine-point Rockets win, which was highlighted by Austin Rivers urging Tony Brothers to eject his father, Clippers head coach Doc Rivers, which he did late in the fourth quarter.
Then after the game, Russell Westbrook added fuel to his rivalry with Patrick Beverley.
"Pat Bev trick y'all, man, like he playing defense," Westbrook said. "He don't guard nobody, man. It's just running around, doing nothing."
Nine days later, the Clippers overcame an 11-point Rockets lead to level the season series. On Dec. 19 in Los Angeles, it was the Rockets who overcame a 15-point halftime deficit to win 122-117.
With 22 games left to play, the Rockets trail the Clippers by 2.5 games for second place in the Western Conference. So not only can the Rockets inch closer to the seed they want, they can clinch the tiebreaker as well.
"This is a big game for both teams," D'Antoni said. "It's going to come down to who plays well that night and who plays better and who can impose their will better than the other team. But it will be great competition and that's what it's all about."
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