The Houston Rockets were so close to knocking the Golden State Warriors out of the playoffs last season, but they crumbled during the final games of the Western Conference Finals.

Despite their historic season, the Rockets lost 4-3 in the conference finals against the Warriors even though they had a 3-2 lead at one point in the series at the end of Game 5 with another home game to play.

What's worse is that Houston had double-digit leads at one point in both Games 6 and 7. Nobody has come as close as them to knocking the Warriors out of the playoffs for the past two seasons.

The losses in Games 6 and 7 for the Rockets are still on the mind of James Harden today, but the MVP winner says he uses those losses as motivation to get better than what he already is.

The Rockets star said to Michael Lee of Yahoo Sports: “It’s on my mind every day. It’s Game 6, Game 7, that’s what drives me every day."

Houston should be more than motivated to go one better than what they did in 2017-18, as they were closer to the NBA Finals than what they have been for the past two seasons.

Still, it might be a tougher task this season than what it was last year due to the new arrivals in the Western Conference and because of the players that they've lost from their own team.

Not only have the Los Angeles Lakers become a title contender overnight thanks to the arrival of LeBron James, but the Warriors have improved as well thanks to the addition of All-Star DeMarcus Cousins.

While Cousins won't be able to play straight away, Golden State knows they don't need to rush him back from injury, and they can simply save him for the back end of the season and the playoffs.

This puts even more pressure on the Rockets, who will have to adapt to life without two of their forwards from last season after they lost Trevor Ariza and Luc Mbah a Moute in free agency this summer.

Carmelo Anthony will help to fill the void once he is signed, but it's not a direct replacement in terms of productivity, so the 2018-19 season could be a very tough year for Houston.

If they keep the losses in the Western Conference Finals though in their minds, that should be more than enough motivation for them to compete despite the odds being stacked against them.

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