Rockets vs Warriors G6 Preview: Curry Butler Strives to Advance 4-2 Another Group of Seven in the West?

At 9 a.m. Beijing time on May 3, the Warriors played the Rockets at home to start Game 6 of the series. In the first five games, the Warriors led 3-2 overall. Curry and Butler are aiming to advance 4-2 to end the series, and for the Rockets' youngsters, it's another back-to-back battle as they try to drag the series into a tiebreaker. So far, only the Clippers and Nuggets have scored in the first round of the NBA this season to tie seven.

In the G5 game, the Rockets defeated the Warriors 131-116. With nearly 18 minutes left in the game, Warriors head coach Kerr decided to pull off all his main players and give up on winning the game, which is an intriguing decision by Kerr. None of the Warriors' starters played more than 26 minutes in this loss, and it's clear that the Warriors have turned their attention to the next game in advance, hoping to take another opportunity to knock out the resilient Rockets.

'Obviously, it's not ideal to play so little because if we can win the game, we will definitely have a lot more playing time. Warriors player Dream said he only played 18 minutes in the game. "But we [Kerr and the veterans] had a brief exchange in the third quarter, and Kerr said, 'I don't think we need to chase any more points.'" I said, 'Okay, let's hold on for another five or six minutes, and if the situation still can't be reversed, just give up.' ’”

In addition to getting into the groove quickly at the start of the game, taking an 18-point lead in the first quarter, the Rockets took full advantage of their athleticism and took control of Game 5. On the offensive end, the Rockets are frequently and rapidly advancing; Defensively, they kept the Warriors on a constant pressing defensive end.

In the third and fourth games, the Rockets also showed this trait, but they were not able to maintain their good form until the end and win.

"As the series went on, we seemed to be getting more and more aware of their [Warriors'] tactical play." Rockets head coach Udoka said, "We tried to drain their stamina and limit some of their tactics, and we did. We're going to let them [the Warriors] create their own offensive opportunities, not let them play the game smoothly. If they have to rely on individual singles to beat us, then we feel like it's in our favour. ”

Still, the Warriors have a huge advantage in terms of playoff experience. In Game 5 of the 2022 Western Conference semifinals, the Warriors lost to the Grizzlies by 39 points on the road, but they eliminated the Grizzlies in Game 6 when they returned home.

Given such a historical record, it's no surprise that the Warriors don't seem to be affected by the G5 loss.

"In the process, we can definitely look back on some past experiences, but we can't just talk about it without practicing." Warriors guard Curry said, "We've got to make a difference on the court. We talked about trying to do something as a team that we had never done together before, and I loved the challenge because we had the opportunity to write our own bounce story. We've been a resilient team over the last two months and that resilience has to show in G6. ”

And in the G5 game, the team that showed great resilience was the Rockets. In this series, the young Rockets proved their strength for the second time.

'We may not always make the right decisions and sometimes it's far from perfect, but being able to pick ourselves up quickly and not dwell on past failures is a big advantage for a young team. Rockets guard VanVleet said he scored a team-high 26 points in the game. 'The young players don't always know what's at stake in the game, so it can be good or bad for them. We played some good games in this series. There's very little room for error in the game, so when you don't win, you can't be too frustrated and you have to pick yourself up quickly. ”

List of injuries and illnesses

Rockets: Landale, Tate are out

Warriors: All players are available

ESPN predicts the win rate: Rockets 39.6%, Warriors 60.4%