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Philippines, 22 Apr 2025 |
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Warriors Shoot Down Rockets, 95-85 as Celtics, Cavaliers, Thunder Take Care of Business By Teodoro Medina Reynoso PhilBoxing.com Mon, 21 Apr 2025  Golden State continued to upset the form charts in the West as the #7 seed Warriors wrecked the #2 Houston Rockets, 95-85 in the opener of their first-round playoff series at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas. In the other matches, the higher-seeded teams took care of business as the West #1 Oklahoma City Thunder obliterated the #8 Memphis Grizzlies, 131-80, while in the East, #1 Cleveland Cavaliers turned back #8 Miami Heat, 121-100, and #2 Boston Celtics easily dispatched the #7 Orlando Magic, 103-86, with all the games held on the higher-seeded teams' home floors. Yesterday, the form chart didn't hold up in the West as the #3 Los Angeles Lakers were soundly defeated by the #6 Minnesota Timberwolves, 117-95, even as #4 Denver Nuggets held off the #5 Los Angeles Clippers in a dogfight, 100-98. In the East, both #3 New York Knicks and #4 Indiana Pacers kept their home-court advantage by beating #6 Detroit Pistons 123-112 and #5 Milwaukee Bucks, 117-98, respectively. The Warriors came to Houston smarting from a home game loss to the Rockets that broke their four-game winning streak and all but spoiled their chance for outright automatic qualification in the playoffs. The Rockets could well afford to lose that game as they were already assured of the #2 seed in the West, but they wanted to show the Warriors their youthful might and proceeded to play spoiler. Stephen Curry, Jimmy Butler, and company came into the series to show the new kids on the block that Golden State is not a team to be trifled with or, worse, underestimated. But the youth-laden Rockets and their coach Ime Udoka were just as eager to show a Warriors team starring a pair of players in their mid-30s what they were capable of. They did just that by opening fast and strong, immediately taking the lead and initiative as the tall pair of Alperen Sengun and Steven Adams dominated the inside, with Jalen Green, Amen Thompson, Tari Eason, and Dillon Brooks alternately flexing their size and muscle against the Warriors. It was very evident that the Rockets were trying to overwhelm the Warriors with size. Warriors coach Steve Kerr, however, was alert to the ploy, and he immediately fielded Quentin Post and Kevon Looney alternately to at least reinforce their ceiling in support of Draymond Green. He also called on veteran defensive guards Moses Moody and Gary Payton II to harass Jalen Green and Fred VanVleet, the only other veteran on the Rockets team. Meanwhile, Curry and Butler started to assert their mastery of the court on the offensive end, and after a close 21-18 first quarter, the Warriors found themselves in the lead by the end of the first period, 47-34. The Warriors even stretched the lead to 23, 66-43, midway through the third quarter as Mike Podziemski caught fire, and Curry and Butler appeared unstoppable. However, a fierce fightback by the Rockets, helped by sloppy plays by the Warriors, enabled Houston to chip away at the lead, with the third period ending 69-60 for Golden State. Emboldened, the Rockets continued their rally, and Thompson even managed to whittle down the margin to three, 79-76, near the midpoint of the final quarter. But that was their last hurrah as Curry showed that he's among the best finishers in the league, and Butler proved he's not called "Playoff Jimmy" for nothing, as they powered the Warriors to a cruising, trouble-free victory. Only three Warriors ended with double figures in scoring, led by Curry with 31 points, Butler with 25 points, and Podziemski with 14 points. But that was enough to beat a Rockets team that relies on "scoring by committee" to win, which they were not able to do in this game. Sengun, who did the most scoring, finished with 26 points, but he was supported by only three other Rockets (Brooks, Jabari Smith, and VanVleet) who could only score an average of 10 points each. Thompson and Green were limited to just 8 points and 7 points, respectively. What a seasoned team like the Warriors did against an upstart team like the Houston Rockets was schooling, a systematic demolition even. Game two will be played still in Houston. The author Teodoro Medina Reynoso is a veteran boxing radio talk show host living in the Philippines. He can be reached at teddyreynoso@yahoo.com and by phone 09215309477. Click here to view a list of other articles written by Teodoro Medina Reynoso.  |
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