After Sunday night’s home loss in Game 1, the Houston Rockets have found themselves in an uncomfortable situation in their playoff series against the Golden State Warriors.
The loss created a fork in the road for Houston: they can either win Game 2 tonight or go to the Bay Area down 2-0 with their entire season on the line.
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What happened in Game 1
Houston had plenty of reason to feel confident heading into that fateful Game 1, though. The team boasts several athletic wings that follow a stubborn defensive philosophy. Their length and athleticism help create heavy contests on shots that appear open. Against a team that relies heavily on shooting the lights out to win games, that felt like a good matchup for the team in red.
It was reasonable to infer that Houston could counter the Warriors gameplan. But if the last decade of NBA basketball taught us anything, it’s that Golden State’s star player transcends reason.
Stephen Curry was a demon in Game 1. He finished with 31 points and 5-of-9 shooting from deep, but actually watching the game, it felt even worse than that.
MORE ON GAME 1: Curry shines as Warriors deny Rockets’ fourth quarter comeback in 95-85 win
Curry’s 10-point second quarter helped Golden State turn a 21-18 deficit into a 47-34 lead at the half. When the Rockets finally cut the lead back down to single digits in the fourth quarter, it was Curry who buried a pair of triples to shut the door on a rally.
For a Rockets fanbase still recovering from the Warriors postseason moments in the James Harden area, another evening of Curry-orchestrated torture felt like a cruel déjà vu.
Game 1 also felt like an uncharacteristically poor showing from the Rockets’ offense. Alperen Sengun had 26 points, predictably having his way with Golden State’s inexperienced big men in the post. However, the well was pretty dry aside from him.
Jalen Green, who averaged a team-leading 21.0 points in the regular season, finished with just seven points on a gag-educing 3-of-15 shooting performance from the field. The team’s other starting guard, Fred VanVleet, somehow played even worse, scoring 10 points and shooting 4-of-19 (including 2-of-13 from deep). If the shooting from Houston’s backcourt doesn’t improve, the team can go ahead and make its reservations for Cancun.
How Houston can win Game 2
The Rockets threw the kitchen sink at Curry in Game 1, and he still was able to torment them. Even though their gameplan ultimately failed, the Rockets can still afford to lean on that philosophy.
Golden State’s scoring really starts and ends with Curry and Jimmy Butler, who combined for 56 of the team’s 95 total points Sunday. Outside of those two alphas, the Rockets comfortably outman the Warriors on both sides of the rock. The Warriors are top-heavy, and the path to beating them is exposing that lack of depth; it’s really that simple.
After all, Houston is just over two weeks removed from a regular season road win against the Warriors, where Curry was held to just three points all night.
MORE ON THAT WIN: Rockets hold Curry to just 3 points, take down Warriors in gritty, physical 106-96 win
While that type of containment might not be realistic in the postseason, there is a world where his highly efficient 31 becomes a semi-efficient 23. With some added attention to crashing the paint on drives, and a commitment to keeping Amen Thompson attached to Curry at the hip, that feels possible.
The path to making Golden State squirm is daring its weak links to step up. If Houston gets overwhelmed by Brandin Podziemski and Moses Moody in Game 2, so be it. It comes down to testing something that might hurt you in favor of something you know will kill you.
On the offensive side of the ball, things are much simpler to diagnose. This Rockets team is young—very young. Sunday night was the first career playoff game for three of the team’s starters (Green, Thompson and Sengun).
Head coach Ime Udoka seemed comfortable chalking up the ugly offensive outing to yips in the bright lights, and that seems like a fair hypothesis.
However, things won’t get any easier from here, especially when the series heads to San Francisco. That’s what makes Game 2 and absolute can’t-lose contest for these Rockets.
Where to watch
Tip-off is slated for 8:30 p.m. at the Toyota Center in Houston. The game will be broadcasted on TNT.
WEATHER REPORT: Will showers dribble out in time for Houston Rockets fans headed to the Toyota Center?
