The six-year wait is over. Playoff basketball is back in Houston. Head coach Ime Udoka and a surging cast of impressive youngsters won 50 regular-season games in 2024-25, ending the year as the Western Conference's No. 2 seed. The Rockets' reward for their best season of the post-James Harden era? A date with the franchise's long-time tormentors, Steph Curry, Draymond Green and the Golden State Warriors.
Facing Golden State is a chance to erase the Rockets' recent playoff demons. It's also Houston's first chance in over a half-decade to be a basketball-obsessed town through April and perhaps May.