On a woeful shooting night for the starting backcourt of Fred VanVleet and Jalen Green , the Houston Rockets lost a home Game 1 of their 2025 first-round playoff series to the Golden State Warriors .
Game 2 of the best-of-seven series is Wednesday night, also from Toyota Center in downtown Houston. Though the second-seeded Rockets had home-court advantage going into the series, the seventh-seeded Warriors snatched that away in the opener, and Houston will now need to win at least one game in San Francisco to ultimately win the series.
From the Rockets' PR staff, here is a look at key data points from Game 1.
With the win, the Warriors take 1-0 lead in the best-of-seven series. Houston has lost its opening game to Golden State in each of the five playoff series the teams have played against each other (all back to May 2015).
Since the Warriors won their first regular-season meeting versus the Rockets on Nov. 2 ( a 127-121 overtime final ), neither team has scored more than 106 points against each other. It is the fifth time Houston and Golden State both scored below 100 points in a playoff game against each other (the Rockets are 3-2 in those games). Going back to 1975, the Warriors have won their last 24 playoff games when holding opponents below 90 points.
The Rockets lost despite out-rebounding the Warriors by a 52-36 margin. Houston was 25-5 when out-rebounding its opponent by double digits during the 2024-25 regular season, with one of the losses coming to Golden State on Feb. 13. The Warriors were 0-3 when being out-rebounded by 15 or more.
Houston had 22 offensive rebounds, marking its highest total in the playoffs since having 22 against the Warriors in Game 5 of the 2016 first round. The Rockets led the league in offensive rebounding and second-chance scoring during the regular season.
Golden State had 14 steals and scored 25 points off 17 Houston turnovers. The Warriors had 10+ steals in each of their final three regular-season games versus Houston. The Rockets allowed the fourth-fewest points off turnovers in 2024-25 (15.8 per game).
Alperen Sengun had 26 points, 9 rebounds, and 3 steals in his playoff debut. That is tied for the second-highest point total by a Rocket in a playoff debut (Elvin Hayes with 31 in 1969; Ralph Sampson with 26 in 1985). Sengun averaged 22.5 points in the Rockets' two wins against the Warriors during the regular season, as compared to 13.3 points in the three losses.
Steven Adams had 12 rebounds, including 5 offensive, in 20 minutes of play off Houston's bench. The last time a player had at least 12 rebounds while playing 20 or fewer minutes in a playoff game was Serge Ibaka (15 in 20) on Aug. 23, 2020. During the regular season, Adams ranked second in the NBA in rebounds per 36 minutes played (14.8) among players with 40+ games played.
Amen Thompson had 8 points, 9 rebounds, and 6 assists in his playoff debut for the Rockets. Dating back to 1993-94, he is the sixth player to have posted those numbers in a playoff debut ( Scottie Barnes in 2022, Nikola Jokić in 2019, Ben Simmons in 2018, Deron Williams in 2007, LeBron James in 2006).
Stephen Curry had 31 points on 12-of-19 shooting, including 5-of-9 from 3-point range. It is his first time scoring 30+ points with fewer than 20 field-goal attempts in a playoff game since Game 3 of the 2022 Western Conference semifinals versus Memphis. Curry has scored 30+ points in seven of his 21 career playoff games against Houston.
Game 2 tips off at 8:30 p.m. Central on Wednesday night, with television broadcasts available on TNT (national) and Space City Home Network (regional).
More: 'I've got to be better': Houston's Jalen Green reacts to poor playoff debut vs. Warriors
This article originally appeared on Rockets Wire: Despite rebounding success, Rockets fall to Warriors in playoff opener
