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The Golden State Warriors drew first blood in their series in the first round of the 2025 NBA Playoffs against the Houston Rockets. Behind their 1-2 punch of Stephen Curry and Jimmy Butler, the Dubs subdued Houston on Sunday night via a score of 95-85, at the Toyota Center.
The final score can come across to some as a little bit of a throwback to an earlier era of the NBA, but what also made the game have that particular feel was how the Rockets played and utilized big lineups.
“They're not a typical modern NBA team, in terms of spreading you out, playing fast, shooting a million threes, they're kind of old school,” Kerr said during the postgame press conference (h/t KNBR). “In many ways, they're in the image of their coach. Ime [Udoka] was a grinder as a player. He was tough and physical, and that's what Houston is.”
The 59-year-old Kerr also mentioned how the Rockets gave him the feeling that it was 1997 all over again. Kerr surely knows what basketball was like during that time, as he was part of the Chicago Bulls championship team that won the 1997 NBA championship.
“In this series, you can see they know where their advantage lies, and it's playing [Steven] Adams a lot,” Kerr added. “Sometimes playing him with [Alperen] Sengun. Having everybody crash. So, it felt like 1997 out there to me. Completely different NBA game than we're used to. We’ve got to be ready for that. This is what this series is going to be.”
Houston was led in the series opener by Alperen Sengun, who knows his way around the post. He finished the game with 26 points on 11-for-18 shooting from the floor while grabbing nine boards in 36 minutes. The Rockets tried to play him alongside veteran center Steven Adams for several minutes in the second half, a move that produced good results for Houston but ultimately was not enough to overcome the visiting team's lead in the second half. Adams had six points on 3-for-4 shooting to go with 12 boards in 20 minutes.
It will be interesting to see what kind of adjustments the Rockets will have in Game 2 and how the Warriors will try to combat such changes.
