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The Golden State Warriors and Houston Rockets will square off tomorrow night in Houston for Game 1 of their Western Conference playoff matchup. This showdown features a Golden State squad that got a huge win over the Memphis Grizzlies in the Play-In Tournament to get here. The young, defensive-minded Houston Rockets held firm as the two-seed in the West and staved off a lot of competition behind them, where seven teams in the playoffs were separated by just four games.
Let’s dive into this matchup while recapping both teams’ seasons and making a game pick for tomorrow night.
Since the calendar turned to 2025, the Golden State Warriors have been fantastic. With a 32-17 record since January 1, including their Play-In Tournament win, the Warriors rode their future Hall of Famer Stephen Curry and his lights-out shooting to propel Golden State here. Curry may have just turned 37, but he still averaged 24.5 points, 6.0 assists and 4.4 rebounds per game during the regular season while shooting just shy of 40% from three-point land.
While you can set your watch to Curry’s production, the cast of characters around him has changed. With no Klay Thompson, players like Andrew Wiggins, Buddy Hield, Moses Moody, Brandin Podziemski, and Jimmy Butler have shared the load in providing support. Don’t forget Defensive Player of the Year candidate and longtime Warrior Draymond Green. All of them will be key if Golden State is to move on to the next round of the playoffs.
While the Warriors are 4-0 under head coach Steve Kerr against the Rockets in the postseason, this isn’t the same Rockets team since these two teams met in the Western Conference Semifinals in 2019. No current Rockets player played in their last postseason meeting. These Rockets, led by Ime Udoka, are tough and physical and will wear out opponents. Finishing fourth in the NBA in defensive efficiency and the NBA’s top team in offensive rebounding and total rebounds per game, these Rockets will put teams to work. Amen Thompson should get plenty of Defensive Player of the Year votes, and he’ll likely draw the assignment of guarding Stephen Curry this series.
The offense is no slouch either, with Jalen Green, Alperen Sengun, Fred VanVleet, Dillon Brooks and company. Nobody will mistake the Rockets for a bunch of sharpshooters anytime soon, but relying on a stifling defense only helps the offense more when they don’t have the pressure to go out and shoot the lights out every time they hit the floor. Houston will ride their defensive contributions as far as they will take them.
With the upcoming showdown between the Warriors and Rockets, it’s going to be a matter of how well the Rockets shoot and how well they defend Curry, Butler and the other scorers for Golden State. With the Warriors’ playoff experience and Kerr’s guiding hand, this series will be one of the most intriguing, and all eyes are fixed on it.
For Game 1’s matchup that could go either way, look for the Rockets to try and put the clamps on Curry. But can the Rockets clamp down on everybody? It’s no secret that with Curry, Butler and Green, the Warriors have been awesome, and with that group of talent and postseason experience, the Rockets could get taken to task by the old guard, who is peaking at the right time.
Kevin has been writing about sports since 2015 with a primary focus on fantasy football. His work has been featured on outlets like Matthew Berry's Fantasy Life, FantasyPros, Sports Illustrated, RotoBaller, Fantasy Alarm, and numerous other fantasy websites. As a native New Yorker now living in the Midwest, Kevin counts the Green Bay Packers, New York Yankees and Syracuse Orange as his favorite teams.