Getty James Harden #13 of the Houston Rockets drives with the ball against Kevin Durant #35 of the Golden State Warriors during Game Six of the Western Conference Finals in the 2018 NBA Playoffs at ORACLE Arena on May 26, 2018 in Oakland, California.
The Golden State Warriors closed out the Los Angeles Clippers with a 129-110 win in Game 6 of their first round playoff series on Friday, setting the stage for a Western Conference Finals rematch from last season against the Houston Rockets, this time in the second round.
Sunday, April 28 at 3:30 PM ET
ORACLE Arena
Coverage: ABC
*All odds and betting info courtesy of OddsShark and originally posted by Bookmaker
- Houston Rockets vs. Golden State Warriors (-5 at -110)
- Over/Under: 224 at -110
Harden Has to Show Up
James Harden on Rockets’ belief they should beat Warriors: “We’re a very confident group of guys. … We’re more than capable. We’re excited about the opportunity. We know the difficulties and the challenges that are going to come along that way, but we’re prepared for them.”
The Rockets clearly have revenge on their minds after how last season ended. The Rockets took a 3-2 lead before losing Chris Paul because of a strained right hamstring and the Warriors completed the comeback and won the series, followed by their second straight NBA Championship.
For the Rockets, it all starts and ends with James Harden. The star guard’s regular season numbers were simply ridiculous, he led the NBA with 36.1 points to go along with 7.5 assists and 6.6 rebounds in 36.8 minutes over 78 games and he had an impressive streak of 32 games scoring at least 30 points.
Harden didn’t play particularly well, at least by his standards, in the first round series against the Jazz, shooting just 37.4 percent from the field and 35.0 percent from 3-point range with 28 turnovers in five games but he’s everything to the Rockets.
Harden did record 40 assists in the five games but the Rockets will be in trouble if he shoots 37.4 percent from the field and only dishes out around eight assists per game against the Warriors.
That said, the Warriors don’t have much room for error either and if Harden gets going, look out. Harden had 44 points, 15 assists and 10 rebounds in a 135-134 road win against the Warriors on January 3 and he’s clearly good enough to beat any team on his own.
Curry & Thompson Questionable for Game 1
There is “optimism” Klay Thompson will play through ankle injury in Game 1, but he could have mobility limitations, per @wojespn
Stephen Curry rolled his ankle in Game 6 against the Clippers and even though he seemed OK after returning to the game and finishing out his minutes, he didn’t look quite like himself and according to Marcus Thompson of The Athletic, Klay Thompson’s right ankle is in pretty bad shape heading into today’s game:
Saturday morning, hours after the Warriors won their sixth-straight road playoff game, Klay Thompson’s sprained ankle was still pretty bad, according to sources.
Curry and Thompson are both considered questionable for Game 1.
Rockets vs. Warriors Trends and Prediction
The Houston Rockets are:
- 8-2 ATS in their last 10 games after scoring 100 points or more in their previous game
- 9-3-2 ATS in their last 14 games following an ATS loss
- 9-3 ATS in their last 12 games overall
The Golden State Warriors are:
- 19-40-2 ATS in their last 61 games following a straight up win of more than 10 points
- 10-22-1 ATS in their last 33 home games
- 0-5 ATS in their last five games following a straight up win
No one can tell how Curry or Thompson’s ankles will respond before Game 1, as there’s not a lot of turnaround time. The Rockets have rest, recovery and revenge working for them, as they finished off their first round series in five games, while the Warriors needed six. This means that the Rockets had three days of rest before Game 1 while the Warriors only had Saturday off after eliminating the Clippers last Friday.
The Warriors didn’t really have Saturday off, with both Curry and Thompson coming in to receive treatment on their ankles. It’s still hard to tell if they will recover in time to play today and even if they do, neither will be 100 percent.
Pick: Rockets +5