The Houston Rockets are set to face the Golden State Warriors in the first round of the NBA playoffs, with Game 1 on Sunday at 8:30 p.m. CT. This is one of the more highly anticipated matchups for a multitude of reasons.
The Rockets have managed to rebuild a young, up-and-coming playoff team after trading James Harden less than five years ago. This season, Houston has seen its core of draft picks come together to produce one of the league’s top defenses while showcasing an array of offensive talents such as Alperen Sengun, Jalen Green, and Amen Thompson.
The Warriors, on the other hand, are still trying to capture another championship with Stephen Curry at the helm. While they are the seventh seed in the Western Conference, Golden State has been one of the hottest teams in the league since acquiring Jimmy Butler. The team ranks top 10 in offense, defense, and net rating, and finished the regular season 23-9.
Despite the Rockets being the higher seed with home-court advantage, many analysts are swinging the other way, picking the Warriors to win the series. ESPN’s Kevin Pelton predicted Golden State to win in six games.
“Historically, playoff experience is a major plus,” Pelton wrote. “Higher seeds like Houston with an experience disadvantage of 11,000 minutes or more (Golden State is plus-11,364) have won only 37% of best-of-seven series since 2003.”
Moreover, many other NBA analysts at ESPN are picking the Warriors as well. Of the eight analysts polled for the winner of this first-round series, only two (Ramona Shelbourne and Bobby Marks) picked the Rockets.
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There is certainly a good argument for why Golden State would win the series. The Warriors have been performing at a high level and have way more experience with Curry and Butler leading the way. Not to mention, they’re less than three years removed from their 2022 championship run.
However, the Rockets have younger talent, which means fresher legs for the postseason. Houston also has more of a paint presence with inside scorers and slashers such as Sengun, Green, and Thompson, plus home-court advantage never hurts.
