Golden State Warriors: Western Conference Finals Preview

What We Learned From The Regular Season

The fact that the Warriors went 4-0 against the Rockets during the regular season would normally mean nothing, but there are some lessons we can take from those meetings, especially since the Dubs won those contests by an average of 15.3 points per game.

Still, it’s worth noting that that the Rockets were missing Dwight Howard for two of those games, Josh Smith for two of those games, Corey Brewer for two of those games and Terrence Jones for all four matchups. For Warriors fans thinking this series is going to be a breeze like it was in the regular season, keep in mind that this Rockets team we saw in the semifinals is a very different, very improved one.

However, it’s worth noting that the Dubs shot just under 50 percent against the Rockets this season while holding Houston to 40.2 percent shooting. The Warriors and Rockets both made a total of 39 three-pointers in their four meetings…but it took Houston 30 more attempts to reach that mark.

What’s scary is the Warriors didn’t particularly shoot the lights out for the most part. Sure, they shot 38.2 percent from downtown for the regular season series, but they had two games where they shot less than 35 percent from downtown — pretty uncharacteristic for a Dubs team that converted 39.8 percent of its attempts from deep this year.

Klay Thompson only shot 25.9 percent from three-point range against the Rockets this season, though Steph Curry certainly helped make up for his struggles by averaging an absurd 25.8 points, 8.6 assists and 6.5 rebounds per game on 57.8 percent shooting (not to mention a scorching 51.9 percent shooting from downtown).

Harden, on the other hand, saw his numbers slightly decrease to 25.3 points, 5.5 rebounds and 5.3 assists per game on 40.5 percent shooting and 24.1 percent shooting from deep. Even more troubling, he only averaged 8.3 trips to the free throw line per game against the Dubs — down from the 10.2 he averaged on the season.

Regular season matchups mean nothing at this time of year, but in the limited sample size we have between these two teams, everything seems to be pro-Warriors so far.

Next: Does Houston Have Any Advantages?