2025 NBA PLAYOFFS West First Round: #2 Houston Rockets vs #7 Golden State Warriors (Series tied 1-1)

[GregOden]

What % chance do yall give the Warriors of getting out of the West?

Steph & Butler are about as good of a 1st & 2nd option that there is, they have the pedigree, they compliment each others game beautiful and dont inhabit the same spaces on the court at all, the x factor is Podz keeping up his strong play to close out the season. He's their Poole for this team.

They desperately need someone to emerge as a consistent bench scorer as well. Should be Kuminga but he's not ready to buy in and Kerr is awful at managing/developing young talent. Moody shouldve been getting consistent PT a couple seasons ago and only now Kerr finally got his head out his ass.

They are in a easy bracket. You can even say they are the favorites to get to the WCF on their side of their bracket. Problem is OKC showed just how big of a gap their is between them and the Grizzlies, a team the Warriors barely beat. Even if you wanna be generous and say they have a 50% shot of making it to the WCF, beating OKC is a gargantuan task. I'd say out of all the top 3 contending teams, they match up best against the Celtics. If they got that matchup in the Finals it's a 50-50 coin flip. But getting to the Finals to me is a harder road than actually winning a 7 game series against the Celtics.

[Tracymcgoaty]

Just making sure you’re not being a hypocrite. This first time in playoffs-young Rockets team lost to a favored warriors team with a core that’s won 4 championships by 10 points.

And Lakers with two superstars lost to Minnesota who’s never won **** by like 22

Lakers **** suck dude! Bron is washed, that’s embarrassing getting blown out by the wolves like that

I am so offended and riled up that you wrote this!

There's literally another thread where you could bash the lakers...hint hint...It's the lakers-minny thread.

Go off to your hearts content.

Ehhh I would imagine they already got enough bashing there lol. Deservedly so of course, the reign is clearly over for the self crowned kang. That Ant man dude a beast though…

Luka is here

[JN61]

Rockets are 2015 Hawks. Letting the play in princess to roll over them. Absolute disgrace

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

What % chance do yall give the Warriors of getting out of the West?

Steph & Butler are about as good of a 1st & 2nd option that there is, they have the pedigree, they compliment each others game beautiful and dont inhabit the same spaces on the court at all, the x factor is Podz keeping up his strong play to close out the season. He's their Poole for this team.

They desperately need someone to emerge as a consistent bench scorer as well. Should be Kuminga but he's not ready to buy in and Kerr is awful at managing/developing young talent. Moody shouldve been getting consistent PT a couple seasons ago and only now Kerr finally got his head out his ass.

I'm a Warriors fan and I'm only giving them a puncher's chance to upset the Thunder should they make it to the WCF. I think the Warriors are still missing that 3rd piece, and hopefully get him next season.

who could we add? I mean...theres not a lot of assets left for a trade. s&t JK and something maybe?

Mark Williams, Jay Huff, Jalen SMITH, Khris Middleton

[Zvaart]

Lakers lost by a whole lot more the other day didn’t they? do they **** suck also?

Yes we do. We've got glaring holes. Rui and Lebron are injured as well. So yeah we suck.

Funny enough our problem is a legit center and athleticism overall. Rockets problem is well..Offense in general.

Just making sure you’re not being a hypocrite. This first time in playoffs-young Rockets team lost to a favored warriors team with a core that’s won 4 championships by 10 points.

And Lakers with two superstars lost to Minnesota who’s never won **** by like 22

Lakers **** suck dude! Bron is washed, that’s embarrassing getting blown out by the wolves like that

Well, i guess time will tell

[Zvaart]

What % chance do yall give the Warriors of getting out of the West?

Steph & Butler are about as good of a 1st & 2nd option that there is, they have the pedigree, they compliment each others game beautiful and dont inhabit the same spaces on the court at all, the x factor is Podz keeping up his strong play to close out the season. He's their Poole for this team.

They desperately need someone to emerge as a consistent bench scorer as well. Should be Kuminga but he's not ready to buy in and Kerr is awful at managing/developing young talent. Moody shouldve been getting consistent PT a couple seasons ago and only now Kerr finally got his head out his ass.

They’re good but the Thunder look like a juggernaut.

Yeah, the Warriors have a shot at getting to the WCF (health permitting for Curry and Butler), but I don't see them getting past OKC.

Fully agree. All the planets need to allign for the dubs to pass the thunder.

[durden_tyler]

Well...so much for the rockets slowing down steph.

Moreover, so much for that defense. This is a home game for them too. Imagine the Warriors offense in their own arena…


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? They held the warriors to 95. That’s like 20 points below their typical average. Didn’t seem like defense was the problem.

This was posted pre-Rockets comeback and when the Warriors had the big lead.

Houston did play better defense the last 1 and 1/4 quarters but the lead was just too much, Golden State executed better down the stretch and Udoka stupidly took out Adams, who was playing great.

The point is, if at home you can’t stop Steph… what can he potentially do when the series shifts to Golden State?

(i think this is going to be a tied series before G3)


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[Charlesareed]

I'm a Warriors fan and I'm only giving them a puncher's chance to upset the Thunder should they make it to the WCF. I think the Warriors are still missing that 3rd piece, and hopefully get him next season.

who could we add? I mean...theres not a lot of assets left for a trade. s&t JK and something maybe?

Mark Williams, Jay Huff, Jalen Williams, Khris Middleton

If warriors were to get a young athlete center who rebounds & play defense & add a veteran who doesn’t need much minutes like Kris Middleton that would make the scary and a contender for a few more years

[multo]

They’re good but the Thunder look like a juggernaut.

Yeah, the Warriors have a shot at getting to the WCF (health permitting for Curry and Butler), but I don't see them getting past OKC.

Fully agree. All the planets need to allign for the dubs to pass the thunder.

Warriors will only win if the role players step up their game and help Steph and Jimmy. So far these two have been carrying the team entering the play-in up to this game.

[Ice Man]

The people who were predicting Rockets in 5 games (a common sentiment earlier in this thread) did so based on 4 misconceptions -

1) The odds when a #2 seed faces a a #7 seed. That's usually a sound precept, but not when the teams are only 4 games apart in the standings.

2) Jimmy Butler doesn't really move the needle. Yeah, he does.

3) The matchup fallacy. Houston is a great rebounding team, that is the Warriors' weakness, thus Houston will win. I understand why people say such things, because the TNT crew and other NBA analysts talk nonstop about matchups, but it's nonsense. Yes, Houston is a beastly offensively rebounding team, but it has other weaknesses, which is why it won 52 games, rather than 65 games. Yes, Golden State is a poor defensive rebounding team, but it has other strengths, which is why it won more than 75% of its games after Jimmy Butler joined the team.

Which we saw last night. Houston did and will kill Golden State on the boards. Houston also defends well. But its offense isn't of championship caliber, which is why it won only 52 games, and that offense did and will struggle mightily against a Dubs defense that is elite.

Matchup analysis cherry picks data points to serve a predetermined narrative. It's entertainment, not information.

4) Related to the above, the idea that the Rockets were unusually well positioned to play against the Warriors because they have a Steph stopper in Amen Thompson. There are no Steph stoppers. There are no stoppers of any true superstar, and Steph is certainly a true superstar.

[Upperclass]

Analytics arenty really needed to see why the Warriors won. Rockets will win the next one big, Warriors after that and so on until Game7.

[Ice Man]

If Rockets didn't have a crazy rebounding advantage this would have been a Warriors blowout... are they going to improve on their +16 offensive rebounding advantage in game 2?

I doubt it. Every Warrior was talking before the game how the most important thing for them to do was to get defensive rebounds, because Houston's offense consists of scoring on misses. I mean, defensive rebounding was the single most important task facing them and they got absolutely hosed on the boards. I mean, crushed, dominated, humiliated. So, what will be different next game? Even playing Kuminga won't help because while he looks like he should be a bigtime rebounder, he's pfft. Averages only 2 boards per 36 minutes more than Steph does.

[Impuniti]

Just making sure you’re not being a hypocrite. This first time in playoffs-young Rockets team lost to a favored warriors team with a core that’s won 4 championships by 10 points.

And Lakers with two superstars lost to Minnesota who’s never won **** by like 22

Lakers **** suck dude! Bron is washed, that’s embarrassing getting blown out by the wolves like that

I am so offended and riled up that you wrote this!

There's literally another thread where you could bash the lakers...hint hint...It's the lakers-minny thread.

Go off to your hearts content.

Ehhh I would imagine they already got enough bashing there lol. Deservedly so of course, the reign is clearly over for the self crowned kang. That Ant man dude a beast though…

Don't really see that series being settled at all. Minny shot 50% from 3, with LeFeeloutgame and Reaves both performing poorly offensively. I'm expecting it to be a 6-7 game series.

[Tracymcgoaty]

I am so offended and riled up that you wrote this!

There's literally another thread where you could bash the lakers...hint hint...It's the lakers-minny thread.

Go off to your hearts content.

Ehhh I would imagine they already got enough bashing there lol. Deservedly so of course, the reign is clearly over for the self crowned kang. That Ant man dude a beast though…

Don't really see that series being settled at all. Minny shot 50% from 3, with LeFeeloutgame and Reaves both performing poorly offensively. I'm expecting it to be a 6-7 game series.

Dude Lebron is 40 man. He's 40 with an injured groin. I ain't seeing no feel out game . He looked good his last games and then he re-aggravated it again when we faced the rockets.

Sometimes 40 is just 40.

[Jamaaliver]

Read on Twitter

[Impuniti]

Ehhh I would imagine they already got enough bashing there lol. Deservedly so of course, the reign is clearly over for the self crowned kang. That Ant man dude a beast though…

Don't really see that series being settled at all. Minny shot 50% from 3, with LeFeeloutgame and Reaves both performing poorly offensively. I'm expecting it to be a 6-7 game series.

Dude Lebron is 40 man. He's 40 with an injured groin. I ain't seeing no feel out game . He looked good his last games and then he re-aggravated it again when we faced the rockets.

Sometimes 40 is just 40.

I'm not doubting LeRobot until I see him falter in the playoffs.

[Bankai]

I like Warriors, but outside of Curry, Draymond, and Butler, the rest looks shaky. Buddy is not a reliable bench spark. Needed a better cast.

But the Rockets are woefully inexperienced. Van Vleet aint that guy. Sengun is good. Rockets might be the only matchup Warriors can beat.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

who could we add? I mean...theres not a lot of assets left for a trade. s&t JK and something maybe?

Mark Williams, Jay Huff, Jalen Williams, Khris Middleton

If warriors were to get a young athlete center who rebounds & play defense & add a veteran who doesn’t need much minutes like Kris Middleton that would make the scary and a contender for a few more years

I have another idea.

The perfect trade package to Golden State would be Wizards send Khris Middleton and Richaun Holmes.

Holmes has a lot of great basketball left.

Washington does guys like Holmes a solid. Gafford, Porzingis, Avdija, and Bagley Jr.

I'd love to see those two guys hoist a banner with Steph and Jimmy B.

[og15]

https://youtube.com/shorts/27lneqfigro?si=6wIYjOxxSTz9xLJn

Remember when people were acting like Steph had never faced the type of defense Houston played in that regular season game before (not to mention that he's obviously older and a step slower now too).

Well, he showed in this first game, that simply being physical is not going to contain him, though any honest observer already knew this.

[Crunch 99]

Yeah that lineup was not good. All these jumbo lineups need Vanvleet in as pg to work. The problem tonight was both guards were beyond awful. I expect Vanvleet to at least improve to average if not good. I'm not confident J Green will

There are multiple bad max contracts, or near max contracts, in the NBA for reason players holding them miss too many games: Embiid, Paul George, AD, Kawhi, Zion, etcetera, but near as I can tell, Fred VanVleet has one and he isn't an outstanding player even when he is healthy.