{"id":135054,"date":"2025-04-18T06:00:14","date_gmt":"2025-04-18T10:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=135054"},"modified":"2025-04-18T04:14:00","modified_gmt":"2025-04-18T08:14:00","slug":"steph-curry-playoff-challenge-houston-rockets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/04\/18\/steph-curry-playoff-challenge-houston-rockets\/","title":{"rendered":"Steph Curry Eager for Playoff ‘Challenge’ vs Houston Rockets"},"content":{"rendered":"

Following a dazzling performance in the play-in, Steph Curry<\/a> and the Golden State Warriors have punched their ticket for the playoffs. In round one, the superstar guard will add a new chapter of his story with a familiar foe.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday night, the Warriors squared off against the Memphis Grizzlies to see who would secure the No. 7 seed in the Western Conference playoffs<\/a>. The former MVP erupted for 37 points in a nail-biting 121-116 victory. Golden State overcame their previous woes in the play-in, but now have to prepare for a tough challenge in round one.<\/p>\n

Steph Curry Eager for Playoff ‘Challenge’ vs Houston Rockets<\/h2>\n

With the No. 7 seed intact, the Warriors are now slated to face off against a young and hungry Houston Rockets team in round one. This is a situation that is all too familiar for Curry, facing off against the franchise on countless occasions. Though this roster is completely different from his past battles with the James Harden<\/a>-era Rockets.<\/p>\n

Following their win against the Grizzlies, Curry was asked about the Warriors ‘ impending matchup with the Rockets. He said battling Houston again is something he joked about with Draymond Green<\/a> in the locker room. However, he understands things are different this time around and he is eager for the challenge.<\/p>\n

“We’re excited for the challenge,” Curry said<\/a>. “I was just telling Draymond, it’s wild. We’ve been in playoff series in Houston for a decade. It’s crazy to think about. I know this is a brand new version of the Rockets team but yeah, we’re excited for the challenge.”<\/em><\/p>\n

For Curry and the Warriors, this is the best-case scenario for them in round one. Of all the teams at the top of the West, the Rockets are the most inexperienced<\/a> bunch. Given their vast playoff experience, this gives the Warriors a slight edge. Following their blockbuster trade for Jimmy Butler<\/a>, Golden State has their eyes on contention. Though they are the lower seed, facing Houston is arguably their best chance at advancing to the second round.<\/p>\n

Steph Curry Has Had His struggles Against the Houston Rockets<\/h3>\n

Playing the Rockets gives the Warriors a window of opportunity for a win over a higher seed, but it’s not going to be easy. They’re a young team looking to make a statement, and they’ve shown they can shut down Golden State’s key players.<\/p>\n

It hasn’t been long since these teams have seen each other, last playing on April 6. The Rockets walked out with a 106-96 victory, but that wasn’t the biggest takeaway. Instead, it was how Houstont was able to make Curry a non-factor. Curry had one of his worst offensive showings of the regular season in this matchup against the Rockets. He logged just three points in 32 minutes of action, shooting 1-for-10 from the field.<\/p>\n

Armed with an array of young athletic wings, Curry is going to have his hands full against the Rockets. One player who’ll likely be one of his primary defenders is Amen Thompson<\/a>. Aside from him, Houston can also deploy more veteran savvy defenders like Dillon Brooks<\/a> and Fred VanVleet<\/a>.<\/p>\n

As one of the primary conductors of Golden State’s offense, Curry will need to perform well in this series. If the Rockets have similar success against him defensively, the Warriors have no chance of advancing.<\/p>\n

Photo credit: \u00a9 Cary Edmondson-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Following a dazzling performance in the play-in, Steph Curry and the Golden State Warriors have punched their ticket for the playoffs. In round one, the superstar guard will add a new chapter of his story with a familiar foe. On Tuesday night, the Warriors squared off against the Memphis Grizzlies to see who would secure […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5517,"featured_media":135070,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,25,62],"tags":[50041,48],"class_list":["post-135054","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-warriors","category-nba","tag-2025-nba-playoffs","tag-stephen-curry"],"modified_by":"Kenny Kluska","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135054","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5517"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=135054"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135054\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":135071,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135054\/revisions\/135071"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/135070"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=135054"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=135054"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=135054"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}