Although they were defeated in Saturday's Game 6 matchup against the Golden State Warriors, 115-86, members of the Houston Rockets, including James Harden, are remaining confident in their odds for Game 7. In fact, Harden says he and his teammates are excited for the opportunity.

“I mean, if you asked us when we were in the Bahamas this summer, this team together (would have) a Game 7 to go to the Finals against the Warriors, we’ll take that,” Harden told ESPN after Game 6. “There’s no pressure. It’s an opportunity, an opportunity that we’re all excited to be a part of. Game 7 at our house, that’s what we’ve worked the entire regular season for, to get the home-court advantage.”

As most hoops fans know, Rockets point guard Chris Paul is currently sidelined due to a strained right hamstring, which left Harden in the proverbial driver's seat for Game 6. Whether or not Paul will be available for Game 7 remains a topic of discussion.

With Paul out of commission, Rockets head coach Mike D'Antoni elected to give Gerald Green (26 minutes) and Eric Gordon (34 minutes) some extra playing time.

In 40 minutes of action in Game 6, Harden racked up 32 points on 10-of-24 shooting from the field (4-of-12 from beyond the arc), nine assists, seven rebounds and three steals. And just for the record, the Beard converted on eight of his nine attempts at the charity stripe.

“Definisively, we just had a lot of missed communication,” Harden said of Houston's performance in Game 6. “In the first quarter, we did a really good job of communicating, limiting them on their threes… just contesting their threes and making everything difficult.

“The third quarter, we come out and (Golden State) goes on an 11-0 run,” Harden continued. “It was just issed communication and turnovers, things like that — things that we can control.”

Monday's Game 7 matchup is scheduled to tip inside the Toyota Center at 9:00 p.m. EST with TNT having live broadcast coverage.

“We're still confident,” Harden noted. “We're a confident group, and we've got just one chance.”