The Golden State Warriors have once again eliminated the Houston Rockets from the playoffs in the Stephen Curry era with a 103-89 win in Game 7 at the Toyota Center on Sunday. This was the fifth time that Curry had knocked out the Rockets, and postgame, the Warriors star was asked what he thought his reputation in Houston was now.
“I’m a winner,” Curry said.
Well, you can’t argue against that. Curry has tormented the Rockets in a way that few other players have tormented a franchise in NBA history. They have now lost to him and the Warriors in the playoffs in 2015, 2016, 2018, 2019, and 2025.
The first two meetings weren’t all too competitive, with the Warriors winning in five games on both occasions. In 2018, however, the Rockets came extremely close to getting one over them, as they led 3-2 in the Western Conference Finals. Unfortunately for them, the injury bug struck.
Chris Paul injured his hamstring in their Game 5 win and would miss the rest of the series. Without Paul, the Rockets were no match for the Warriors and lost in seven games.
The rematch the following year would see the injury bug hit the Warriors. Kevin Durant went down with a calf strain in Game 5 of the Western Conference Semifinals, but the Rockets still ended up losing in six games.
It had seemed like the Rockets would never get a shot at revenge against Curry as they struggled post-2020. Head coach Ime Udoka managed to spearhead quite a revival in the last two years, however, and led the team to 52 wins and the second seed in 2024-25.
The Warriors, meanwhile, won 48 games and managed to finish as the seventh seed after navigating through the Play-In Tournament. Despite the Rockets being the higher seed, many still viewed the Warriors as the favorites, and they justified that tag by going up 3-1.
A relatively comfortable series win appeared to be on the cards, but the Rockets stunned the basketball world by winning the next two games to tie things up at 3-3. They had all the momentum heading into the do-or-die Game 7 at home, but ended up losing to get knocked out by the Warriors again.
Curry finished with 22 points (8-16 FG), 10 rebounds, seven assists, two steals, and two blocks in Game 7. The 37-year-old had just three points at halftime but then came alive in the fourth quarter, scoring 14 points in the period.
While Curry had a couple of magical performances in this series, he wasn’t always at his best. That was down to the Rockets playing extremely physical defense, and he admitted postgame that it was challenging going up against them.
“That was one of the toughest defenses I think I’ve ever faced,” Curry said. “In the sense of, the physicality that was allowed earlier in the series and then their commitment to just trying to take away all the patterns that we usually thrive off of, and guard me at half court at times. It was wild.”
Curry also praised Rockets’ Amen Thompson, who made life difficult for him in this series. Thompson defended the two-time MVP as well as anyone has, but still ended up on the losing side.
Curry has now averaged 24.9 points, 5.4 rebounds, 5.4 assists, 1.5 steals, and 0.5 blocks per game against the Rockets in the postseason. As tempting as it would be to get another shot at revenge, they probably should be hoping they never face him again in the playoffs.
