The elimination of the Houston Rockets seemed to be just a formality when they trailed the Los Angeles Clippers 3-1 in the second round of the NBA Playoffs.

Sure enough, the Clippers did Clippers things and a number to note in their matchup against the Clippers, as well, but the team has upped its possessions in the postseason and is averaging more per 48 than any other team in the playoffs.

Only one team in the regular season played at a faster pace: Golden State.

The Warriors' 98.3 possessions per 48 in combination with the Rockets' 96.5 should indicate that this will be an uptempo, something the Warriors haven't experienced in the playoffs. The Grizzlies and Pelicans finished 26th and 27th in regular season pace, and now Golden State's 94.3 possessions per 48 in the playoffs rank just 14th among the 16 playoff teams.

Now, they can open things up.

Golden State's Playoff Net Rating: 8.6

Golden State's regular season Net Rating (the difference between a team's Offensive Rating and Defensive Rating) of 11.4 was undeniably impressive (the Clippers' 6.9 was a distant second), but the Warriors are still maintaining a Net Rating of 8.6 in the postseason. That was because they beat up on the Pelicans, right? Well, not exactly.

Golden State maintained a Net Rating of 7.6 against the Pelicans in the first round, which ranked fourth. Against the Grizzlies, the Warriors turned it on -- despite their two losses -- and finished the series with a Net Rating of 9.3, the best mark in the second round (only Cleveland's Net Rating of 7.0 was better than 3.4 among the remaining teams).

James Harden's Offensive Rating vs. Golden State: 103

During the entire regular season, Harden sustained an Offensive Rating of 118, which ranked 19th in the NBA among qualified players. If you exclude some super efficient, low usage guys, that rank climbs. His Offensive Rating ranked seventh in the league among players with a Usage Rate of at least 15.0 (Harden's 31.3 Usage Rate ranked third, by the way).

Against the Warriors in four games, he managed an Offensive Rating of just 103. That was his third-worst mark against any opponent (it was 96 against Boston in two games and 100 against San Antonio).

Golden State's Three-Point Percentage: 38.9%

Golden State posted the league's best three-point percentage during the regular season. The Atlanta Hawks finished second (38.0 percent), meaning that the Warriors were quite clearly the league's best team from beyond the arc.

That'll happen when a team has two shooters who attempt at least 7.1 threes per game and convert them at a 43.9 percent clip or better (three-point percentage against isn't a great indicator of a team's actual three-point defense, but the Rockets were substantially the best in the league, and we can't just ignore that.

Unfortunately for Clutch City, the Warriors shot 38.4 percent from three against the Rockets in their four regular season games. Only Sacramento and Philadelphia managed better percentages against the Rockets this year.

Golden State's Win Odds: 80.59%

According to our algorithms, this is going to be a one-sided series. Golden State's all-around efficiency gives them a win percentage north of 80 in this series, and their NBA Finals odds sit at 62.65 percent. No other team left has odds better than 20 percent.

Then again, the Rockets just toppled the second-best team in anything is possible.