With the first Western Conference Play-In game decided, the Houston Rockets now know their opponent for the first round of the NBA playoffs. They'll be facing off against the No. 7-seeded Golden State Warriors in what could prove to be one of the best first-round matchups overall.
The young Rockets are hoping to establish themselves as legitimate Western Conference contenders and also do something that the James Harden-led Rockets failed at numerous times - beating the Warriors in the playoffs.
These Warriors aren't the juggernaut of old, but you wouldn't know that based on the series odds.
The 7th seed Warriors are favored over the Rockets to win their series, per @BovadaOfficial
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) April 16, 2025
Warriors -175
Rockets +150 pic.twitter.com/lQ5xlMQ5Ql
The No. 7-seeded Warriors aren't just favored to win this series, but they're fairly heavily favored over the No. 2-seeded Rockets in 2025. Yes, you read that right.
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Rockets should take offense to first-round odds vs. Warriors
I get it. The Warriors will not only have the best player in the series, Stephen Curry, but considering Jimmy Butler's history in the playoffs, they might have the two best players in the series. We saw just how good this dynamic duo can be on the big stage when they combined for 75 points in Golden State's Play-In win. With that being said, though, the fact that the Warriors were a Play-In team has to mean something, right?
Yes, the Western Conference was loaded, but the Rockets did finish four games ahead of Golden State in the regular season standings. While the Warriors won the season series against Houston, the Rockets not only won their last meeting, but also held Curry to just three points in the win.
The odds of Curry scoring three points in a playoff game are virtually zero, but the Rockets have a defense more than capable of at least containing him and Butler. Houston ranked sixth in opponent points per game in the regular season, and with the likes of Amen Thompson, Dillon Brooks and Tari Eason defending, could smother Curry and Co.
I get the concerns with Houston. Their offense is not quite as explosive as you'd like, and they're a young team with little playoff experience. Expecting this to be a close series makes sense, but it's not as if they're the team chasing.
They're the No. 2 seed. They're the ones with home-court advantage. They're the ones facing off against a team that had to get an extra win just to make the playoffs. You can expect it to be close, but the Rockets deserve more respect as a much higher seed than they're getting. They hope to prove that on the court as the 'underdogs.'