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

[cupcakesnake]

I think my favorite part of the game last night was after Houston had been dominating with their offensive rebounding, and the Warriors were like 'o crap we need to get as big as we possibly can right now'. For a brief spell (late 3rd, early 4th) the Warriors had a Curry/Podz/Buter/Looney/Post lineup! Then the Rockets just scoffed like: 'is this as big as you get?' before putting out: Green/Amen/Jabari/Sengun/Adams. Houston won those minutes handily.

It was insane in general how Steven Adams came in in the second half and completely controlled the game for a while. He's the perfect fit on a team that loves to miss shots. He didn't get abused defensively either.

Warriors fans are all over Kerr for not going bigger. WTF? The bigs got played off the floor.

I thought it was just interesting to see a coach go that simple and be like: what's my biggest possible lineup right now? What do Warriors fans want? Put in Trayce at SF? I was a little surprised to see Adams play more than twice as many minutes as Looney. I expected we'd see a minutes match. Is the thinking just that Adams will rebound against anyone, so might as well go full pedal on offense?

I'm not sure how many minutes the Rockets are willing/able to play Adams in this series. It's a fun game of checkers (not chess!) where one team has arguably the best offensive rebounder of all time (but he's a specialist) playing against a team that doesn't really have a starting-calibre center sized player.

[Nuntius]

I think my favorite part of the game last night was after Houston had been dominating with their offensive rebounding, and the Warriors were like 'o crap we need to get as big as we possibly can right now'. For a brief spell (late 3rd, early 4th) the Warriors had a Curry/Podz/Buter/Looney/Post lineup! Then the Rockets just scoffed like: 'is this as big as you get?' before putting out: Green/Amen/Jabari/Sengun/Adams. Houston won those minutes handily.

It was insane in general how Steven Adams came in in the second half and completely controlled the game for a while. He's the perfect fit on a team that loves to miss shots. He didn't get abused defensively either.

Warriors fans are all over Kerr for not going bigger. WTF? The bigs got played off the floor.

I thought it was just interesting to see a coach go that simple and be like: what's my biggest possible lineup right now? What do Warriors fans want? Put in Trayce at SF? I was a little surprised to see Adams play more than twice as many minutes as Looney. I expected we'd see a minutes match. Is the thinking just that Adams will rebound against anyone, so might as well go full pedal on offense?

Yes. Because he will. Houston needs those rebounds. They are shaky from the perimeter and there is no better 3-point shot than one coming off of an offensive board

[warriorschamps]

Whew. The Rockets play some of the ugliest basketball I've ever seen. 1990s ball indeed, nobody can shoot. It's terrible to watch. They foul all night long. But we know the refs aren't going to call a foul down the floor on every possession on the Rockets. It's the ole 1990s Pistons & Knicks strategy. Let's foul on every possession and put the onus on the referees to call fouls.

What's even crazier to me is some people like this type of "basketball". Where it's not really basketball but wrestling. But when you have no offensive ability or talent you have to play this brand of "basketball".

By the way what last night showed for like the 1000th time is Steph would be at an even greater advantage NOT disadvantage in 1990s. Put a guy with that offensive talent out their against players with limited offensive skills and it's like wow. That guy jump off the screen.

Back to Rockets that was bad to watch. It's like the early 2000s Allen Iverson Sixers.They use missed shots and offensive rebounds almost in the place of assist. Throw up as many bricks as possible and try to go get the ball off the rim for a put back. Let's hope the Warriors sweep here. The Rockets physical style aka fouling/wrestling brand of basketball try to score putbacks off missed shots strategy not anything I want to see. Just awful basketball.
By the way how Steph only shot two free throws in that game is beyond me. The last time I checked holding wasn't a defensive strategy.

By the way the Warriors, especially their bench is going to have to rebound a lot better than they did in game 1. Game 2 watch for me is sadly the refs and if more obvious fouls are going to be called on the Rockets.

[ShootersShoot]

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.

Podz 14
Moody 7
Payton 7

Those are their scoring, it’s not flashy and big but effective. But none are liability on the defensive end.

But sure, just look at the scoring and you’ll conclude the support squad is “shaky”.


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Podz isn't good. I don't care what anyone says. He gets open looks and is a bad FT shooter. He is entirely replaceable from what I can see. Steph bails him out every game

Hes a second year guy in his first playoffs and has helped the team a lot esp in the second half of the season. Hes clearly one of their top 5 players. Now I know that really doesnt mean much in the context of whether he is a good player or not, but hes going to get at least 30mpg this playoffs.

Since he came back from midseason injury:
34 games played
29mpg
14.9ppg
5.6rpg
3.6 apg
41% 3pt
57% efg
1.3 tov

Are those stats of a bad player?

[Vee-Rex]

This series is done. Rockets guards just cant create in the halfcourt and you just cant overcome that in the playoffs. Until they upgrade that position, theyre a 1 and done team. Green either has to take massive steps forward next season or they gotta make a play for someone like Book

Their gonna trade for KD.

Not high on KD because he offers no leadership value but in his sleep he is better than Jalen Green. Rockets are legitimate contenders even with a 37 year old KD.

KD to the Rockets? Dude just getting passed around like a piece of high-quality booty to whatever team is wanting it that year.

Two chips but man it feels like a disappointing career.

[GunnerWRX]

Sengun travels a lot when under the basket. Many times this season I have seen him hop and moved his pivot foot, and the refs never called even once.

[Onlytimewilltel]

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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Solid question, I guess only time will tell

[Onlytimewilltel]

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.

You could be right, only time will tell though

[Outside]

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.

Humiliated? They won the game. The only team that got humiliated was Houston.

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.

I don't know what the deal is with Kuminga. I hope he plays this series, but something is going on.

As for his rebounding rate vs Curry, Steph is one of the best rebounding guards in the league. Another way to look at it is that Kuminga averages 6.8 reb/36, which is only 0.7 less than Draymond. The Dubs rely on gang rebounding and have most of their roster clustered within a couple rebounds of each other when you look at their per 36 numbers.

[Twinkie defense]

I don't know what the deal is with Kuminga.

As the games have gotten more important Kuminga has seen less and less time on the court.

Kerr wants to rely on mistake-free basketball to win this series. They feel like if they can limit the mistakes - not give Houston chances to turn loose balls into breakaway dunks on the other end - the Warriors will win this series. Kuminga does not play mistake-free basketball. He's got athletic skills but does not have high BBIQ or a mastery of team concepts.

Buddy Hield doesn't either but I think they need his outside shooting threat to keep the spacing for the offense to operate. Kuminga is a space-clogger.

[picc]

Have we discussed Steph Curry clamping Jalen Green up one on one in space all game?

I haven't read through the whole game thread so don't know if that's been dissected yet.

I've always felt Steph was an underrated defender. But for a player who is 5 inches taller than him and his team's primary perimeter scorer, that was embarrassing.

What moves does he have? It seems like his brain locks on "go that way", and then when that gets clamped, its "go other way I guess."

[Twinkie defense]

Podz isn't good. I don't care what anyone says. He gets open looks and is a bad FT shooter. He is entirely replaceable from what I can see. Steph bails him out every game

He's not flashy but he plays both ends, hustles and scraps, usually makes the right play. He is always among the +/- leaders, including last night when he was a game-high +17(!). I think most teams would be thrilled to get that kind of play from a second-year player drafted at #19 and on a small contract - in fact I think he was the guy teams were most interested in when the Warriors were looking to make a trade this season.

[DonaldSanders]

I need ratings on this Dillon Brooks form tackle:

I give it a solid 6.

https://packaged-media.redd.it/1pohakvhv5we1/pb/m2-res_720p.mp4?m=DASHPlaylist.mpd&v=1&e=1745272800&s=85701e75859aba9b7b960ccfeb204389cf482a8b

[floppymoose]

Why do people keep calling Butler, Robin? Does Robin usually have better stats and turn the whole team around?

Maybe because Butler says he is Robin?

[Ice Man]

Buddy Hield doesn't either but I think they need his outside shooting threat to keep the spacing for the offense to operate. Kuminga is a space-clogger.

No NBA player makes me want to punch my television more than Buddy Hield. He's a testament to the importance of shooting, because all other aspects of his offensive game are painful.

[Ice Man]

Have we discussed Steph Curry clamping Jalen Green up one on one in space all game?

I did in the other post-game thread, the one about how FVV and Jalen Green should be reported to Homeland Security. Yes, Steph did, and the announcers failed to notice what ended up being among the game's most important aspects. Steph acquitted himself very, very well.
S

[parsnips33]

Why do people keep calling Butler, Robin? Does Robin usually have better stats and turn the whole team around?

Maybe because Butler says he is Robin?

Surely the media is paying him under the table to say that, don't know why anyone would assume Steph Curry is the Warrior's most important player otherwise

[Twinkie defense]

Why do people keep calling Butler, Robin? Does Robin usually have better stats and turn the whole team around?

Maybe because Butler says he is Robin?

Yep and Jimmy Butler calls Curry a hellafied Batman. He's always talking about how Stephen Curry is Batman.

https://youtu.be/VrfDCM8BLMA?si=DL-nmuNO_peEcOAT

[Nuntius]

Podz 14
Moody 7
Payton 7

Those are their scoring, it’s not flashy and big but effective. But none are liability on the defensive end.

But sure, just look at the scoring and you’ll conclude the support squad is “shaky”.


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Podz isn't good. I don't care what anyone says. He gets open looks and is a bad FT shooter. He is entirely replaceable from what I can see. Steph bails him out every game

Hes a second year guy in his first playoffs and has helped the team a lot esp in the second half of the season. Hes clearly one of their top 5 players. Now I know that really doesnt mean much in the context of whether he is a good player or not, but hes going to get at least 30mpg this playoffs.

Since he came back from midseason injury:
34 games played
29mpg
14.9ppg
5.6rpg
3.6 apg
41% 3pt
57% efg
1.3 tov

Are those stats of a bad player?

Podziemski has always been a really solid player. I liked him a lot during his draft. It would be really interesting if he got Polish citizenship and played for their NT

[Ice Man]

When Jimmy was on the TWolves, he carried a football with him and said he was going to be an NFL tight end. That said, I do think that he genuinely admires Steph's game.