Howard after league-leading Warriors crush Rockets: 'Hawks are the best team'

Nothing the Golden State Warriors do to them seems to impress the Houston Rockets.

First James Harden said the league-leading Warriors "ain't even that good" before the Warriors spanked the Rockets on Saturday. Now Dwight Howard is getting into the action, telling reporters after the Warriors crushed the Rockets again Wednesday that he actually believes the Atlanta Hawks are the NBA's best team.

For the record, the Hawks are awesome: they move the ball beautifully, shoot the lights out, have balanced scoring and an elite defense. They've won 14 straight games and 28 of their last 30, and they've built a six-game lead in the Eastern Conference standings.

But the Warriors remain a half-game ahead of the Hawks in the overall standings (something Howard wasn't aware of), have outscored opponents by an average of 11.8 points per game en route to a 34-6 record, and are on track to become the first team in over 30 years to lead the league in field goal percentage and field goal percentage defense.

They've also already beaten Howard's Rockets four times, sweeping the season series by an average margin of victory of 15.25 points.