View from Houston: Rockets were built specifically for this moment

HOUSTON — If not now, when? This is the moment that the remade Rockets were built for. This is the shot that James Harden, Daryl Morey and Co. have waited three long years for. Even ground against the superpower Warriors. Home-court advantage with the NBA Finals on the line. Confidence, momentum and swagger for the locals in red, with Kevin Durant, Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green, Steve Kerr and Co. regrouping on the other side. To quote a man waiting to board a cross-country flight — and publicly discussing the state of these suddenly tight Western Conference finals — inside San Francisco International Airport early Wednesday morning: "Pick 'em.