Golden State Warriors: 3 takeaways from Game 1 vs. Rockets

The Golden State Warriors stayed close early and pulled away late, beating the Houston Rockets 119-106 in Game 1 of the 2018 Western Conference Finals. Here are our three strategic observations and takeaways moving forward.

There have been 1,296 games played in the NBA so far this season. Only the most recent one, however, carried what felt like championship implications.

Sure, the Golden State Warriors and Houston Rockets had some fun regular season battles. Yes, they each had to win eight playoff games to get here. And of course, it is possible for the Eastern Conference champion to beat either team in the Finals.

But come on. Since Houston established itself as a powerhouse early on, this entire season has felt like a prelude to this series. As such, the Warriors’ 119-106 Game 1 win feels like the season’s first result worthy of deep analysis.

Even without that, the basketball was spectacular on the surface. Kevin Durant scored 37 points on 14-for-27 shooting, while James Harden poured in 41 on 14-for-24 shooting, including several dazzling step-back 3s. Neither team’s point guard was quite as special, but Stephen Curry still added 18 points, eight assists and six rebounds, while Chris Paul put up 23 points and 11 boards.

Outside of those top duos, this game was all Warriors. Klay Thompson scored 28 points, hit six 3s and played terrific defense. Draymond Green was out of control early (he picked up a tech 67 seconds in and flirted with a second on multiple occasions) , ice-cold from the field (five points on 1-of-5 shooting) and got into foul trouble (picking up his third in the second quarter), and still finished a game-high +19 because that is what he does. Golden State also got nice games out of Andre Iguodala, Nick Young, Shaun Livingston and Kevon Looney.

That’s just a primer, though. The real treats were the strategic wrinkles that revealed themselves as major plot points in this matchup. Those will be the focus of our Game 1 takeaways.