The Golden State Warriors won both of their home games against the Houston Rockets to start off the second round series and guard Klay Thompson says the respect the Dubs have for the Rockets helped them.

The Rockets went 3-1 against the Warriors during the regular season. It took Golden State seven games to defeat Houston in the 2018 Western Conference Finals. For whatever reason, the Rockets always play the Warriors tough and the Dubs know it.

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“I think Houston’s raised our awareness, our level of play,” Thompson said, via Mark Medina of the Bay Area Newsgroup. “We respect them greatly, especially the battle we had last year in the seven-game series. So we want to take care of home-court.

“We don’t want to give them a game — that would give them a ton of confidence. Now the goal is to go steal one in Houston.”

The Rockets have two Hall of Famers in the backcourt in Chris Paul and James Harden. Stopping those two is a challenge the Warriors look forward to.

The Dubs will look to take a commanding 3-0 series lead in Game 3, which is on Saturday at the Toyota Center. No team in NBA history has ever come back from a 0-3 deficit, so if Thompson and the Warriors can win Game 3, the series is essentially over.