Steve Kerr flashed back to his playing days Sunday in the Golden State Warriors’ first-round series opener against the Houston Rockets.
The Warriors outlasted the Rockets in a Game 1 slugfest at Toyota Center in Houston, Texas. The Rockets used a physical brand of defense to try to stifle the Warriors’ offensive flow. But Golden State scored just enough to win 95-85, a final score that looks like it belongs in a different era.
“It felt like 1997 out there,” Kerr said of Sunday’s Game 1. “Completely different NBA game than what we’re used to. We’ve got to be ready for that. This is what this series is going to be.”
Both the Warriors and Rockets were at the forefront of the game’s pace and space area, which started in the mid-2010s. But Sunday’s Game 1 more closely resembled a 1990s playoff game between Kerr’s Chicago Bulls and the New York Knicks in terms of physicality.
The Rockets pounded the Warriors in the paint, outscoring the visitors 54-34 in that area. Houston also out-rebounded Golden State 52-36.
But Jimmy Butler and Steph Curry provided the Warriors with enough firepower to get by the Rockets’ smothering defense. The pair combined for 56 of Golden State’s 95 points.
Houston, on the other hand, could not get anything going offensively. Golden State deserves credit for holding firm defensively, but several of the Rockets’ key contributors went silent in Sunday’s game.
Jalen Green, the Rockets’ leading scorer this season, scored just seven points on 3/15 shooting. Fred VanVleet shot an even-worse 4/19 from the field for 10 points. The Rockets’ backcourt duo combined to shoot 2/17 from three-point range.
