SAN FRANCISCO – One does not have to look far to find reasons for the Warriors to have bad blood with the upstart Rockets during the team’s first-round Western Conference playoff series that starts in Houston on Sunday.
As a member of the Grizzlies, Houston wing Dillon Brooks unleashed a flagrant foul that broke Gary Payton II’s elbow during Golden State’s championship run in 2022.
Warriors forward Draymond Green infamously kicked Steven Adams in the ground during the 2016 playoffs when the center was playing with Oklahoma City, and Rockets coach Ime Udoka recently was seen talking trash with Steph Curry during the teams’ April matchup.
So it is no surprise that staying cool and collected was a major point of emphasis for the seventh seeded Golden State.
On Friday morning at Chase Center, longtime coach Steve Kerr said the much needed four-day rest between Tuesday’s play-in win over Memphis and the Sunday showdown in Texas will help the team abide by that mandate.
“The rest and preparation that’s going into this, I think that will helps us be composed and poised, because that’s what it takes in the playoffs,” Kerr said.
Saying it might be easier than doing it considering the way Houston – fourth in defensive rating (110.8) and tops in offensive rebounding per game (14.6) – approaches the game against a team it held to under 100 points in 3-of-5 matchups.
Kerr invoked the names of fellow coaching greats Pat Riley and Chuck Daly when discussing how his opponent plays.
The Rockets had no problem grabbing, holding and daring the officials to bog the game down with whistles when they beat the Warriors 106-96 on April 6. It is a tactic those legendary coaches did not hesitate to employ during Kerr’s playing days during the 1990s, and a play-style that has once again become more prevalent in 2025.
Officials called only 18.6 fouls per game, the lowest in NBA history. Houston was whistled for just 19 a game, while the Warriors were a smidge over at 19.2 a night.
“The game, this year in general, is more physical,” Kerr said. “They’re letting more stuff go, and that’s all part of the equation. It’s not anything we worry about or talk about.”
The Rockets’ gameplan of sticking the uber-athlete Amen Thompson onto Curry and having the San Leandro native play tight man-to-man on- and off-ball contributed to the Warriors superstar shooting just 1-of-10 and scoring three points.
Source: Paradise Post