DNHQ After Dark: Game 7 Battle Mode activated as Warriors head to Houston to meet Rockets

OOOOO WHAT A RUSH!

(click ^^^ to see the Warriors learning the hard way about dealing with Houston’s defense!)

Dub Nation,

Let me speak plainly, from the chest: Should we be afraid? HELL NAY. It's the Houston Rockets who should be waking up in cold sweats tonight.

Terrified that they poked a sleeping dynasty with a stick. Terrified that Stephen Wardell Curry is still inhaling oxygen on this planet. Terrified that this franchise—the one that's sent them fishing more times than James Harden has stepped back—is now breathing down their necks in a Game 7.

Since the championship year of 2015, there have been two constants in this beautiful, chaotic NBA universe:

1. The Warriors DO NOT lose first-round playoff series.

2. The Warriors DO NOT lose to the Houston Rockets when it matters.

And yet, here we stand. Not teetering on collapse but snarling on the precipice of basketball immortality. We once feared 3-1 deficits like they were death itself. But now? WE are the reaper. We're the lower seed. We're the Ocean's Eleven crew infiltrating Toyota Center's vault. And if we pull this off? It's not a comeback. It's straight grand larceny with witnesses.

Game 6 was an abomination—real talk. Curry coughed up five turnovers like he was allergic to basketball. Draymond collected a Flagrant 1 before the stadium hot dogs were warm. The Rockets’ double big lineup had our team discombobulated and small. GP2 and Dray sharing floor space created the spacing of a Manhattan studio apartment. And Fred Van Vleet? Man turned Chase Center into his personal 24-Hour Fitness.

But strip away the wreckage and what remained? A WINNABLE GAME. That's the dagger twist. Warriors lost by eight despite momentary leads and despite Steph's nuclear 11-0 run that nearly ripped a hole in the space-time continuum. You know what really burns?

THE. DAMN. TURNOVERS.

The pattern is so clear Ray Charles could see it:

• Game 1: Warriors 14 TOs, Rockets 17 — Dubs win

• Game 2: Dubs 15, Rockets 13 — Rockets win

• Game 3: Dubs 10, Rockets 15 — Dubs win

• Game 4: Dubs 10, Rockets 13 — Dubs win

• Game 5: Dubs 14, Rockets 13 — Rockets win

• Game 6: Dubs 17, Rockets 13 — Rockets win

One law governs this entire series like gravity: The team that donates fewer possessions wins. PERIOD.

We don't need Steph channeling Game 6 Klay. We don't need Kuminga suddenly morphing into 2016 Iggy. We just need to be SMARTER. SHARPER. STOP TREATING THE BASKETBALL LIKE IT'S COVERED IN GREASE.

That's exactly why I sat through the torture of dissecting all 17 of those Game 6 turnovers frame-by-frame—because that game was OURS for the taking, if only we hadn't played like we were trying to invent new ways to give away possessions. You don't survive the playoff gauntlet by gift-wrapping extra chances like they're party favors.

Game 6 was a haymaker to the soul. No question. But do you HONESTLY believe the Golden State Warriors—the team with four banners hanging from Chase Center rafters, with championship DNA coursing through their veins—are going to roll over and lose THREE STRAIGHT to this Houston squad?

Because I don't. And deep in your gold-blooded heart, you don't either.

So maximize those vocal cords. Weaponize those memes. Charge those devices to 100%. Because Sunday isn't for doubting:it's for DOMINATING.

And when our squad emerges from that tunnel in hostile territory—heads high, backs steeled, legacies blazing—ask yourself one question:

ARE WE NOT WARRIORS? DO WE NOT ABSOLUTELY BELIEVE?

Then let's go TAKE what belongs to us. WE’RE ON TO HOUSTON! KICK US OFF THE COURT, BOY!