NBA Playoffs: Steve Kerr Doesn't Believe Rockets Have Any Advantage Over Warriors

Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr believes his side's experience in winning championships will prove pivotal over the red-hot Houston Rockets.

The Warriors face the Rockets in a highly-anticipated Western Conference Finals meeting with many viewing Mike D'Antoni's side as the biggest test for the defending champions.

The Houston side finished the regular season as the No. 1 seed and boast two of the best players in the league in MVP candidate James Harden and Chris Paul, both of whom formed an effective partnership since the latter's arrival from the Los Angeles Clippers last year.

In addition, the Rockets finished the regular season with a 2-1 record over the Warriors and will have home-court advantage in the series with Game 1 beginning Monday at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas.

But despite all these factors, Kerr is not worried and believes the Rockets have no real advantage over a side who have won two championships in the last three years.

"No, I like where we are,” Kerr said when asked if the Rockets have any advantages. "Our guys have rings. That's a good position to be in. To me, the hardest championship is the first one, as an individual player and as a team, because you don't know — you don't quite know if you can do it."

"Once you get the first one, there’s a little bit of house money. But you want it again because it's an unbelievable feeling. I like our position. We're going to go in here knowing we're the defending champs, knowing we have a couple of championships here the last few years. Let's go get another one."

Kerr's sentiments are echoed by Warriors guard Klay Thompson, who expects another championship this year while adding that not having home-court advantage is something the Bay Area side will simply have to adapt to.

"We definitely expect to win a championship this year," Thompson explained. "That puts a lot of pressure. I'm sure they feel the same way. Their fan base is itching for a championship. Our fan base is itching for a continuous ride."

"We're just as hungry as we were last year and the year before that. I don’t know how they feel. But we're ready to get this series going. Yeah, it's [not having home-court advantage] a unique position. We haven't been there in a while. So just treat it like any other game," he added.

If the Warriors want to advance to a fourth consecutive NBA Finals appearance, they will need to nullify Harden and Paul. However, Kerr acknowledged that trying to simulate plays against the duo in practice is a tough task before he went on to praise Paul, likening him to Warriors forward Draymond Green.

"You can simulate it, but good luck trying to match what James Harden does and what Chris does," Kerr added. "But we did a nice impersonation today. Chris is a killer. He’s one of the great competitors in the league. That’s how Draymond is. You’ve got to have guys like that if you’re going to win."