The NBA playoffs standings in the western conference finals has the Houston Rockets and Golden State Warriors playing in the third round series and the Game 1 matchup on Tuesday will give one team a 1-0 lead to start things off and the battle has MVP Stephen Curry up against second place finisher James Harden to see who gets to the finals.
The Warriors and Rockets finished one and two in the regular season standings in the west and they now battle in the postseason. The eastern conference also had the top two teams make it to the conference finals with the Cavaliers and the Atlanta Hawks. The Warriors had the most wins in the league this season with 67 and they come in as the favorites in the series.
The Rockets came back from a 3-1 deficit against the Los Angeles Clippers to advance and now they are looking to get to the finals for the first time in over a decade. The team comes in looking to continue playing well after taking down the Clippers and Harden will be in the middle of all of that. Both of these teams are strong three-point shooting clubs and the series could be decided on who shoots better from long range.
The injuries coming into the series are not as serious as in the eastern conference, but Marreese Speights will be out for the Warriors in game 1, while Patrick Beverley is out for the Rockets for the postseason. Speights could miss more than one game and that could shorten things up for the Warriors. The Warriors offense was the second most efficient in the playoffs during the first two rounds and they averaged over 105 points per game.
The Clippers-Rockets series had a number of high scoring games and that could come into play again this time around. Curry and Klay Thompson will be key for the Warriors, while Harden and Dwight Howard are the top players for the Rockets coming in. The Rockets came back from a 19-point deficit against the Clippers to win one game and now they have the chance to match up with the Warriors. The Rockets will need contributions from Trevor Ariza, Jason Terry and Pablo Prigioni and the bench scoring could be key for the series as well.
Harden is averaging 27 points and seven assists per game this postseason, while Stephen Curry is putting up 23 points per game and seven assists. Harden had 31 points and eight assists in the clinching win against the Clippers, while Dwight Howard had 15 rebounds in the game to lead the Rockets. Curry is trying to get the Warriors into the finals and the team is looking to take Game 1 at home, where they have played very well all season.
