West Conf. Finals - Game 1: Golden State Warriors 119 - 106 Houston Rockets - Rockets' Player Ratings

The Houston Rockets gave up the homecourt advantage right in the first game of the series, something that they spent much of the regular season working for. If it were against literally any other opposition in the league today, they would be getting roasted for giving it up in Game 1, but since they're playing a historically great basketball team in the Golden State Warriors, it is understandable that they got outplayed.

Their display was, for the most part, full of promise, however. If they execute as they did for most of the first 2 quarters of the game, they might just push the Warriors to the limit in this series - though that is easier said than done given how the Dubs have not played even 6 games in a playoff series ever since acquiring Kevin Durant in 2016.

They went shot-for-shot with the Warriors during the first half, and the teams headed into the locker room at halftime tied at 56 each. The Warriors dominated both quarters in the second half, however, ensuring a tidy 13-point victory.

For the most part, the Rockets played exemplarily - they just got outshone by a better ball club than themselves. The following are the player ratings from the game:

Chris Paul - 7/10

Paul comes off a pick from Ryan Anderson

Stat line: 23 points, 11 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal, 8-of-17 from the field, 2-of-7 on threes

Chris Paul had an average night overall. He scored 23 points on career average 47% shooting, but if he'd knocked down a couple of 3-pointers more the game might have been closer in the final stages. Hounded by the excellent Klay Thompson for a large part of the game, CP3 found the going tough, but he was money from mid-range for the most part.

Some of his points also came during garbage time at the end of the game, and he shot less than he did in the last 2 games of the Conference Semifinals. While the Point God won't exactly be looking back at this game as the regret of his lifetime, he could admittedly have gotten way more than the 3 assists that he tallied on the offensive end.

On the defensive end, Paul was locked in, and he even got into Kevin Durant's way for a short while during the second quarter, leaving it with untarnished laurels. He gathered 11 rebounds during the game as well, and he led a couple of fast breaks off these valuable boards.

James Harden - 9/10

Stat line: 41 points, 4 rebounds, 7 assists, 1 steal, 14-of-24 from the field, 5-of-9 on threes

The MVP-elect for most NBA fans and followers continued his impressive trend in game 1s of the 2018 playoffs, as he's scored 40+ in each of them this year. Although the end result is something he won't be happy with, The Beard had a fascinating cook-off with Kevin Durant that he ultimately shaded narrowly. His offensive game was, for the most part, on point on the night.

He averaged 1.69 points per isolation play (there were 14 of them on the night), and it didn't matter who the Warriors put on him as he scored in a variety of ways. The one knock on Harden on the night was the fact that he over-dribbled on a number of possessions as the Warriors forced some ugly possessions by the Rockets.

On defense, he was adequate, although Durant did score on him on a number of occasions. He mostly retreated to the post region as a weakside defender and caused significant trouble to the likes of Kevon Looney and Draymond Green. There wasn't much more one could expect out of Harden on the night.

Trevor Ariza - 5/10

Golden State Warriors v Houston Rockets - Game One

Stat line: 8 points, 2 rebounds, 1 steal, 3-of-8 shooting from the field, 1-of-5 on threes

Ariza's night was marred by the foul trouble that he constantly found himself in. While one call on him was quite questionable, he was caught playing with fire on a number of possessions as he committed a couple of needless reach-in fouls. Ariza picked up 2 early fouls in the 3rd quarter and had to sit out the rest of it with 5 personal fouls.

While Ariza was brought back into the game in the 4th quarter, his lack of scoring punch ultimately affected the Rockets' gameplan. Ariza has not shot well in the playoffs this year, as he's averaging only 38.2% on his field goal attempts and 33.9% on threes through 11 games of the postseason.

His in-game numbers were pretty much in line with the rest of his playoff averages. Ariza would do well to bounce-back with a more acceptable outing in Game 2, which is now a must-win for the Rockets.

PJ Tucker - 3/10

PJ Tucker guarding KD

Stat line: 1 point, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, 0-of-3 from the field

Tucker was having a pretty good playoff season thus far, but this is a game that he would want to put behind him. Barring a spell in which he guarded the Durantula and held him to a low shooting percentage, Tucker was mostly a net negative for the Rockets.

In 34 minutes of game time, Tucker was unable to net a single field goal. Early in the game, he got fouled by Draymond Green on a 3-point attempt and he got 3 free throws, but he only made 1 out of those 3 shots from the charity stripe.

Tucker saw a number of minutes at the center position in the closing stages as the Rockets looked to close a 10-point deficit in the 4th quarter, but he was unable to have an impact in those times either.

Clint Capela - 7/10

Capela dunks off a lob from James Harden

Stat line: 12 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 blocks, 1 steal, 6-of-7 from the field

Capela has dominated the interior through 10 games of the postseason thus far, but he was unable to make the same kind of difference against a Warriors team which relies less on the pick-and-roll offense than the Minnesota Timberwolves or the Utah Jazz did. The Swiss man did leave his impact on the game, but he was warming the bench during the closing minutes as the Rockets countered the Warriors' Hampton 5 lineup with a small-ball lineup of their own.

Capela's skillset was largely rendered redundant by a Warriors defense that blocked most of Harden's and Chris Paul's attempts to lob it up in the paint area to him. He was great on defense, however, doing the best job that he could while getting switched on to the likes of Curry and Durant. Early in the game, he even had a block on Steph despite giving up a step or two on his layup attempt.

The Warriors' propensity to render centers ineffective in the paint by refusing to bang with them in the post means that Capela's role in this series will not be as prominent as it was before.

Eric Gordon - 7/10

Golden State Warriors v Houston Rockets - Game One

Stat line: 15 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 6-of-13 from the field, 3-of-7 on threes

The former Pelicans starter had not been having a great postseason, but he made some amends with his showing during this game. He was averaging in the low 30s in both field goal percentage as well as 3-pointers before this game, but this showing will bump up both of his percentages significantly.

Gordon played 33 minutes of the game and scored 15 points. He was able to take the ball inside the paint and finish on a couple of occasions, and he also found his range with a deep three early on in the 4th quarter in a sequence when Curry airballed a similar shot from way downtown himself.

Gordon defended adequately on switches, and he wasn't a victim of the Warriors' find-the-mismatch gameplan.

The rest of the bench

Gerald Green was in foul trouble

Gerald Green - 6/10

The Houston native was not a disappointment, but he wasn't too much of an asset to his team either. His 2 made 3-pointers helped his team offensively on a night when they shot a relatively low 13 3-pointers (they averaged 15 made 3-pointers per game before this), but he picked up some cheap fouls to hand the momentum back to the Warriors.

Luc M'bah a Moute - 2/10

The Cameroonian has been off the mark offensively in the limited minutes that he's gotten in the postseason so far, and that trend continued in this game. While bricking 3-pointers is somewhat forgivable, the Cameroonian was unable to even score off his drives, going 0-for-6 from the field.

Ryan Anderson - Unrated

Anderson was inserted into the lineup only once in the second quarter, and he did not have any points to show for the 5 minutes that he spent on the court.

Nene - Unrated

Like his fellow frontcourt player Ryan Anderson, Nene saw only 5 minutes of game time. He only had 1 rebound to show for it.