While they were forced to go through the Play-In Tournament, the Golden State Warriors eventually booked their spot in the 2025 NBA Playoffs thanks to Tuesday's win over the Memphis Grizzlies.
The Warriors may not officially start their playoff campaign until Monday, but their last two outings have essentially been played with the same urgency. Games against the L.A Clippers and Grizzlies saw drastically increased minutes for the starters, and also led to some huge rotation calls headlined by the rotation axing of fourth-year forward Jonathan Kuminga.
The Rockets could monster the Warriors on the glass
Golden State may have advanced to the playoffs, but not without a concern that's now set to be a major focus heading into their first-round series against the Houston Rockets. Steve Kerr has built the best defense in the league since the All-Star break with a small-ball lineup featuring Draymond Green at center, yet the flaws with that were exposed against the Clippers and Grizzlies.
The Warriors were heavily out-rebounded 92-64 across those two games, with big men Ivica Zubac and Zach Edey each causing problems against much smaller opposition. Zubac was huge with 22 points and 17 rebounds in the Clippers' overtime victory last Sunday, while Edey had 14 points and 17 rebounds despite Golden State getting the chocolates on Tuesday.
They may have actually finished the regular season seventh in total rebounds and rebounding percentage, but these last two games present a concern for the Warriors that could now get a whole lot worse against the best rebounding team in the league.
Not only do the Rockets have an All-Star center in Alperun Sengun and a former Warrior playoff rival in Steven Adams, they've actually found immense success with playing both together in double-big lineups across the second-half of the season.
The Rockets hold a 29.9 net rating in the 162 minutes Sengun and Adams have played together -- that's easily the best of any two-man combination on the team to have played more than 15 minutes.
The Warriors are very likely to get monstered if that two-man combination is viable. Their best opportunity is to ensure Ime Udoka can't utilize them together for significant minutes, most likely by making them work defensively and see how they guard the Stephen Curry-Green pick-and-roll, or how they cope when switched onto Jimmy Butler.
It's not just Sengun and Adams either, with Houston also possessing young, long athletes like Amen Thompson, Tari Eason and Jabari Smith Jr. who also set to be a big presence on the glass. If the Warriors can't keep the rebounding numbers at least in the same ball-park, it could be a defining factor that leaves the Rockets with a significant advantage.