Rockets Go Cold, Fall Flat in Game 1 Loss To Warriors’ Defense And Championship Grit

The Rockets came in hot. The crowd was jacked. Alperen Sengun baptized Draymond Green at the rim. And then… it all cooled off. Fast.

The Warriors didn’t just steal Game 1 — they took it with clamps, control, and the cold-blooded calm of a team that’s been here before. Final score: 95-85, and that 85? The fewest points the Rockets have scored all season.

Houston didn’t crack 50 until the 4:36 mark of the third quarter. Yes, you read that right.

Sengun finished with 26 points, but just four came in the fourth. And while he threw down a poster early, the Warriors seemed perfectly fine letting him get his — as long as no one else did. And no one else really did.

The Rockets shot 6-of-29 from deep. They missed bunnies at the rim. They got second and third chances — 22 offensive boards, 22 second-chance points — and still couldn’t find the bottom of the net when it counted.

Stephen Curry, meanwhile, did what he always does. Scored at the rim. Hit absurd threes. Twisted the knife. He finished with 31. Jimmy Butler III — who quietly had himself a night — added 25 points, 7 boards and 6 assists. The two stars iced the game late after Houston had clawed back within three midway through the fourth behind Amen Thompson’s energy.

But this game wasn’t about offense. It was about the Warriors flexing on defense — showing why playoff pedigree still matters in a league obsessed with youth.

The Rockets, for all their promise, just got a lesson in playoff pain. The Warriors gave them an old-school beatdown. Slowed it down. Made it ugly. Controlled the tempo. And walked away with the upset.

Game 2’s coming. But if the Rockets don’t shoot better and tighten up late, this series could get real uncomfortable real fast.