Houston Rockets' Clint Capela on Golden State Warriors: 'We want them'

April 25 (UPI) -- The Houston Rockets advanced to the second round of the NBA playoffs with a 100-93 win over the Utah Jazz in Game 5 Wednesday night.

Rockets center Clint Capela already has an opponent in mind for Houston's second-round series.

"That's what I want," Capela told reporters when asked about a potential rematch with the Golden State Warriors. "I want to face them."

Rockets star guard Chris Paul, who was seated next to Capela during their press conference, knew the magnitude of the center's words and predicted they would go viral.

"Look at you," Paul said while looking at a reporter. "You can't wait to tweet that out."

Capela, who was battling an upper respiratory infection for portions of the Rockets' first-round series, posted 16 points, 10 rebounds and three blocks in Game 5 against the Jazz. The center saw no reason to hide his team's goal of redemption against the dynasty that eliminated the Rockets in Game 7 of last year's Western Conference finals.

"We've been working on it all year long," Capela said. "I think if you want to be the champion, you've got to beat the champion. So at some point, you've got to do it, right?"

Paul agreed with his teammate's assessment. The guard missed the last two games of that West finals due to a hamstring injury.

"CC said it best. Real talk," Paul said. "In order to get to where you're trying to get to, you've got to go through them. They're the reigning champs, been running the West for, like, five years straight now."

The Los Angeles Clippers halted discussions of a rematch with a 129-121 win over the Warriors on Wednesday night. Golden State holds a 3-2 series lead over Los Angeles. Game 6 is Friday night at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.