Golden State Warriors: Western Conference Finals Preview

By virtue of their Game 6 thrashing of the Memphis Grizzlies on the road, the Golden State Warriors advanced to their first Western Conference Finals since 1976. After last night’s Game 7 in the other Western Conference series, the Dubs know who their opponent will be: the Houston Rockets, spearheaded by the MVP runner-up.

A Warriors-Los Angeles Clippers matchup would have been all kinds of fun, especially since those two teams hate each other with a fiery passion that burns as brightly as the hairs on Brian Scalabrine‘s head. But there are tons of narratives driving this Dubs-Rockets series to make this matchup a lot of fun too.

There’s the obvious headliner of MVP Stephen Curry vs. MVP runner-up James Harden, but there’s also the digital war that will be waged by two passionate, outspoken fan bases on Twitter, there’s the Warriors trying to win a championship for the first time in four decades and there’s the Rockets’ revival of the famous “Don’t ever underestimate the heart of a champion!”

But most important of all, something needs to be acknowledged right away: As much as the Warriors dominated their regular season head-to-heads with Houston, this pesky Rockets team just became the ninth team in NBA history to rally from a 3-1 playoff deficit. In the postseason, nothing matters but the next game.

Bearing that in mind, could the Rockets give this Western powerhouse problems? Will the Splash Brothers cruise to victory again, or is the Beard ready to unleash his own home cooking? Here’s a look at the biggest factors in this series along with a final prediction of who will ultimately represent the West in the 2015 NBA Finals.

Next: Regular Season Matchups