CBS Sports

CapperTek

Covers

Dratings

DunkelIndex

ESPN

FlashPicks

GameSim

OddsShark

OddsTrader

SportGrid

Sports Betting Dime

VSiN

Wunderdog

Moneyline

Total

Point Spread

Away/Home

Wins

Ov / Un

Warriors

Andrew Wiggins

Brandin Podziemski

Braxton Key

Buddy Hield

De'Anthony Melton

Dennis Schroder

Draymond Green

Gary Payton II

Gui Santos

Jackson Rowe

Jimmy Butler III

Jonathan Kuminga

Kevin Knox II

Kevon Looney

Kyle Anderson

Lindy Waters III

Moses Moody

Pat Spencer

Quinten Post

Reece Beekman

Stephen Curry

Taran Armstrong

Trayce Jackson-Davis

Yuri Collins

Rockets

Aaron Holiday

Alperen Sengun

Amen Thompson

Cam Whitmore

Cody Zeller

David Roddy

Dillon Brooks

Fred VanVleet

Jabari Smith Jr.

Jaden Springer

Jae'Sean Tate

Jalen Green

Jeff Green

Jock Landale

Nate Williams

N'Faly Dante

Reed Sheppard

Steven Adams

Tari Eason

Away/Home Defense

Away/Home Offense

Defense

Offense

Golden State Warriors vs Houston Rockets Picks

Toyota Center

<p>Stephen Curry and Jimmy Butler continue their quest to lift Larry. The Golden State Warriors are guests once again Toyota Center to play the Houston Rockets in Round 1 of the 2025 NBA Playoffs. Can Ime Udoka&#8217;s squad protect home court tonight?</p>
<p>Let&#8217;s talk playoff hoops.</p>
<h3 class="p1">Game Information</h3>
<ul class="ul1">
<li class="li1">Toyota Center Houston, TX</li>
<li class="li1">#2 Houston Rockets host #7 Golden State Warriors</li>
<li class="li1">Previous Matchup: GSW 95-85 April 20th, 2025</li>
<li>Warriors Lead the Series 1-0</li>
</ul>
<p><em><strong><a href="https://affiliates.bettingnews.com/register/betonline/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">All New Players at BetOnline get 50% Welcome Bonus + 100 FREE SPINS!</a></strong></em></p>
<div id="attachment_69494" style="width: 1010px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-69494" class="size-full wp-image-69494" src="https://wp.bettingnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Rockets2025ChampionshipOdds.jpg" alt="Alperen Sengun is worried with the basketball. 2025 NBA Championship Odds and Analysis." width="1000" height="510" srcset="https://wp.bettingnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Rockets2025ChampionshipOdds.jpg 1000w, https://wp.bettingnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Rockets2025ChampionshipOdds-300x153.jpg 300w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" /><p id="caption-attachment-69494" class="wp-caption-text"><em>Can Baby Jokic really lead Houston to a series win?</em></p></div>
<h2>Golden State Warriors @ Houston Rockets</h2>
<p>The visitors stole game one in hostile Houston. The Warriors superstar duo has gained rapport very fast and it was on display again. Golden State was overall impressive in both the Play-In and Game One. Their periphery concern going forward would likely be the lack of bench contributions. However, they can deal with that problem when they&#8217;re forced to. Right now? They&#8217;ve got two legends scoring like they&#8217;re in their primes. Golden State was also very good on the other side of the basketball. They held the Rockets to under 40% from the field as a team as well as just 6-29 (20.7%) from beyond the arc.</p>
<p>On the other hand, Houston dominated the paint winning that battle 54-34, but that ended up not mattering. The Rockets couldn&#8217;t hit a jump shot or a free throw. Going 11-20 from the line is not going to win you any playoff games. The Rockets even struggled to do things they excel at. The red and black like to run, they have the 7th ranked fast breaking offence in the association, they averaged 16.9 ppg in that respect. Last game? They had four fast break points.</p>
<p>This series is far from over considering how well Houston executed for the 82-game regular season. However, unfortunately for Houston, Steve Kerr and Golden State have seemingly figured out this young team.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">PLAYOFF JIMMY INTRODUCES HIMSELF TO GOLDEN STATE!</p>
<p>😤 25 PTS<br />
😤 7 REB<br />
😤 6 AST<br />
😤 5 STL</p>
<p>Left his mark in his Warriors playoff debut as GSW takes Game 1. <a href="https://t.co/8c6l558O3N">pic.twitter.com/8c6l558O3N</a></p>
<p>— NBA (@NBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBA/status/1914176015439650825?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 21, 2025</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<div id="attachment_69499" style="width: 1010px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-69499" class="size-full wp-image-69499" src="https://wp.bettingnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Warriors2025ChampionshipOdds.jpg" alt="Jimmy Butler is shocked. 2025 NBA Championship Odds and Analysis." width="1000" height="510" srcset="https://wp.bettingnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Warriors2025ChampionshipOdds.jpg 1000w, https://wp.bettingnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Warriors2025ChampionshipOdds-300x153.jpg 300w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" /><p id="caption-attachment-69499" class="wp-caption-text"><em>Jimmy is happy in his new home.</em></p></div>
<h3 class="p1">NBA Game Analysis</h3>
<p>Curry, Butler, and defence. Stephen Curry and Jimmy Butler have hit a groove as a scoring tandem. Curry has scored 30+ in four of the last 5 basketball games he&#8217;s played in. Jimmy Buckets hasn&#8217;t shot under 50% from the field since April 4th. The other guys defend, rebound, and shoot open shots &#8212; but this team lives and dies with this duo.</p>
<p>The Rockets will come into this one with adjustments for sure but there were some things they did well. Their two big lineup showed promise and they absolutely dominated the glass. They out rebounded their opponents 52-36 overall and 22-6 on the offensive glass. Also, as mentioned, they dominated scoring in the paint. Their foundation is still there. If Houston can keep this up then they can actually create some offence off of this &#8212; be it on the break or 2nd chance points.</p>
<p>Most importantly, shooting. Houston won&#8217;t even win a game unless someone can get hot from three. They cannot simply rely on defence, rebounding, and second chance points. Golden State is the third best team in the association at defending 2nd chance points. Steve Kerr&#8217;s team is good defensively and they have the superior offensive superstars. The outcome of Game Two might be very telling if this series is short or extended.</p>
<h3>Houston We Have a Problem&#8230;</h3>
<p>Where can the boys in red find shooting? It&#8217;s a good lesson in life to never talk about problems without talking about potential solutions. So, let us pontificate on the possibility of one of Houston&#8217;s shooters finding a groove. Houston has teased extending their 8-man rotation to 10 to include shooters in Aaron Holiday and Jeff Green. However, I believe they need the shooting to come from someone already entrenched in the 8-man rotation.</p>
<p>It has to be one of the former top 3 picks. Either Jalen Green or Jabari Smith Jr. needs to shoot Houston into this series. The talent is there but it is raw. Green has the ability to hit 5-7 threes in a game as he did it numerous times in the regular season. Last game, he has 0-4 from three, and 3-15 overall. He is better than that. However, if he doesn&#8217;t course correct the Rockets season will come to a crashing halt.</p>
<p>In Game One, Jabari Smith Jr. played just 25 minutes and was 1-1 from three. Ime Udoka simply needs to give him more run. He&#8217;s tall, athletic, and he shot 35.4 % from three this year. That&#8217;s not great but it is one of the better marks on the roster. If it&#8217;s not one of these two young players then perhaps it could be veterans Dillon Brooks, Fred VanVleet, or one of the aforementioned bench players. Most importantly, they just need to find someone who can cause chaos for Golden State&#8217;s defence.</p>
<div class="mb-2 card d-flex left-cta-box flex-column flex-lg-row justify-content-center justify-content-lg-start align-items-center">
	<div class="item-position" style="display: none;"> 2 </div>
	<div class="p-3 pl-lg-4 bg-left-cta-box text-center">
		<img 
		class="align-self-center w-100 h-100"
		src="https://fantasydataobj.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/books/betonline-logo-194x62.webp" 
		alt="BetOnline Sportsbook logo" />
	</div>
	<div class="px-3 pt-0 pt-lg-3  pt-3 pb-lg-3 text-center text-lg-left w-75">
		<span class="text-dark font-weight-bold mb-2">55% Welcome Bonus w/ code BNBOL55</span><br />
		<span class="mb-0 text-grey-400 small">First Deposit Bonus</span>
	</div>
	<div class="p-3">
		<a class="btn text-nowrap stretched-link btn-success" role="button" href="https://affiliates.bettingnews.com/register/betonline/" target="_blank" data-event-label="betonline-sportsbook-card" rel="noopener sponsored">Claim Your Bonus »</a>
	</div>
</div>
<h3><a href="/tools/outlier-bet-review/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Key Outlier.Bet Insight</a></h3>
<ul>
<li>Tari Eason has exceeded 14.5 PRA in 14 of his last 17 games at home. He averages 21.0 PRA in friendly confines. The athletic wing went 0-4 from three in Game One. He&#8217;ll need to bounce back if he wants to keep up his positive trends at home. He struggled in April after having his best month of the season. He averaged 14.4 ppg compared to 9.8 ppg from March to April.</li>
</ul>
<h3><a href="https://affiliates.bettingnews.com/register/betonline/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">NBA Best Bet: Golden State Warriors +3.0 (-105)</a></h3>
<p>There are a lot of ways that the Rockets can get back into this series. They dominated the regular season with intensity night in, night out. However, this is the NBA playoffs. This Warriors team looks locked. Low total. Should be a close game. I&#8217;ll take playoff Jimmy with the Chef as underdogs.</p>
<h3><a href="https://affiliates.bettingnews.com/register/betonline/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Place this NBA bet on BetOnline to get 50% Welcome Bonus + 100 FREE SPINS!</a></h3>
<div class="mb-2 card d-flex left-cta-box flex-column flex-lg-row justify-content-center justify-content-lg-start align-items-center">
	<div class="item-position" style="display: none;"> 2 </div>
	<div class="p-3 pl-lg-4 bg-left-cta-box text-center">
		<img 
		class="align-self-center w-100 h-100"
		src="https://fantasydataobj.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/books/betonline-logo-194x62.webp" 
		alt="BetOnline Sportsbook logo" />
	</div>
	<div class="px-3 pt-0 pt-lg-3  pt-3 pb-lg-3 text-center text-lg-left w-75">
		<span class="text-dark font-weight-bold mb-2">55% Welcome Bonus w/ code BNBOL55</span><br />
		<span class="mb-0 text-grey-400 small">First Deposit Bonus</span>
	</div>
	<div class="p-3">
		<a class="btn text-nowrap stretched-link btn-success" role="button" href="https://affiliates.bettingnews.com/register/betonline/" target="_blank" data-event-label="betonline-sportsbook-card" rel="noopener sponsored">Claim Your Bonus »</a>
	</div>
</div>
<h3><a href="/tools/outlier-bet-review/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Like the Analysis? Check out our Outlier.Bet review! </a></h3>
<h3>Thanks for Reading!</h3>
<p><a href="https://x.com/JustSukh">Follow me @JustSukh on X!</a></p>
<p>Also, get the best odds &amp; all the up to date lines right here at Betting News!</p>
<div class="su-list mb-5" style="margin-left:0px">
<ul>
<li><i class="sui sui-check" style="color:#15BB9D"></i> <a href="/nfl/picks/">Picks &amp; Odds for the NFL</a></li>
<li><i class="sui sui-check" style="color:#15BB9D"></i> <a href="/nfl-betting-guide/">NFL Betting Guide for Beginners </a></li>
<li><i class="sui sui-check" style="color:#15BB9D"></i> <a href="/ncaaf/picks/">Pick &amp; Odds for NCAAF</a></li>
<li><i class="sui sui-check" style="color:#15BB9D"></i> <a href="/guides/college-football-betting-guide/">NCAAF Betting Guide for Beginners</a></li>
<li><i class="sui sui-check" style="color:#15BB9D"></i> <a href="/mlb/picks/">Picks &amp; Odds in the MLB</a></li>
<li><i class="sui sui-check" style="color:#15BB9D"></i> <a href="/guides/mlb-betting-guide/">MLB Betting Guide for Beginners</a></li>
<li><i class="sui sui-check" style="color:#15BB9D"></i> <a href="/nba/picks/">Picks &amp; Odds in the NBA</a></li>
<li><i class="sui sui-check" style="color:#15BB9D"></i> <a href="/guides/nba-betting-guide/">NBA Betting Guide for Beginners</a></li>
<li><i class="sui sui-check" style="color:#15BB9D"></i> <a href="/nhl/picks/">Picks &amp; Odds in the NHL</a></li>
<li><i class="sui sui-check" style="color:#15BB9D"></i> <a href="/guides/nhl-betting-guide/">NHL Betting Guide for Beginners</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
<p><a href="https://x.com/YourBettingNews" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Follow us at Betting News</a> for all of our sports betting content &amp; <a href="http://twitch.tv/bettingnews" target="_blank" rel="noopener">streams on Twitch</a> every day as well!</p>
<div class="my-3 card card-body d-flex flex-column flex-lg-row align-items-center" style="background-color: #01337d;">
    <div class="py-3 flex-fill">
        <p class="mb-0 lead text-white text-center text-lg-left font-weight-bold">
            <span style="font-size: 1.15rem;">Get FREE Picks and Props Weekly</span>
            <br><br>
            <span style="font-size: 1rem;">Sign up for</span>
            <br>
            <span style="font-size: 1.15rem;">THE WEEKENDER NEWSLETTER</span>
        </p>
    </div>
    <div>
        <a class="mx-2 btn btn-lg btn-danger stretched-link text-nowrap" role="button" href="/newsletter-subscription/" style="padding: .5rem 2rem;width: 300px;margin: 0;">Get FREE Picks</a>
    </div>
</div>
<p>Additionally, looking for a great promo for a new sportsbooks? Check out <a href="/best-online-sportsbooks/">all the various sign-up bonuses &amp; reviews</a> we have for numerous sportsbooks, available everywhere!</p>
<h2>Still Here? More NBA Betting Stories</h2>
<ul>
<li style="list-style-type: none;">
<ul>
<li><a href="/articles/nba/2024-25-nba-futures-defensive-player-of-the-year/">NBA Defensive Player of the Year Odds</a></li>
<li><a href="/articles/nba/power-rankings-2024-early-finals-best-bets/">2024-25 NBA Power Rankings</a></li>
<li><a href="/nba/tips/">NBA Betting Tips</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>


Alperen Sengun and Stephen Curry with Logos. Rockets vs Warriors NBA Analysis, Odds, and Best Bet (4/6)

Warriors vs Rockets NBA Analysis, Odds, and Best Bet (4/23)

NBA Playoffs | Atlanta Hawks vs. New York Knicks: Game 6

The NBA Playoffs feature three elimination games, and our expert has dialed in three NBA prop bets and picks for Thursday.

NBA Playoff Prop Bets for Thursday, April 30: Taking Tyrese

NBA Playoffs | Atlanta Hawks vs. New York Knicks: Game 5

Get dialed into Tuesday's NBA postseason action, as we deliver our best NBA playoff props and picks with top value and analysis.

NBA Playoff Props for Tuesday, April 28

2026 NBA Playoffs: Pistons Face Tall Task to Overturn 3-1 Deficit vs. Magic