Stephen Curry Says Championship Experience Helped Warriors Beat Rockets In Game 1

Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry has said his side relied on their championship experience to come away from Game 1 with a win over the Houston Rockets.

The highly-anticipated Western Conference Finals meeting between the two sides finally took place Monday at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas, with both sides delivering an exciting first-half performance with the game tied at 56-56 at halftime.

However, it was the visitors, starting a series on the road for the first time, who later pulled away as Kevin Durant's 37 points, Klay Thompson's 28 and Curry's 18 helped the Warriors to a 119-106 win to wipe out the Rockets' home advantage.

It means the Warriors are now 25-3 in postseason games since 2017 but for Curry, their run only shows they are making full use of the roster's talents as he wants the team to continue being greedy.

"Talent's great but you got to actually go out there and compete and execute and be ready when the lights are on," Curry told reporters after the game. "We've put together a solid run, we want to continue to be greedy and go after more and it's a fun way to play so we got a good thing going."

"Everyone knows our role, everyone appreciates the moment that we've had and hopefully more to come. Just feeding off each other's energy and doing great," he said.

Toward the end of the regular season, the Rockets were touted as the one team capable of stopping a potential third championship in four seasons for the Warriors.

With the likes of MVP front-runner James Harden and Chris Paul along with home-court advantage, Monday was a chance for the Houston side to make good on those expectations with a good start to the series.

However, as head coach Steve Kerr mentioned before the series, the Warriors boast the added advantage of being champions multiple times and Curry believes the experience certainly helped the team in remaining calm despite a good start for the home side.

"At the end of the day, it helps to have gone through this experience a few times and understand how you react to the pressure and find a way to get over the hump. You rely on that experience," Curry explained. "They tried to throw a heavy punch early. James hit some early shots. We didn't get rattled. That could've been the deciding moment right there. You could lose a game in the first half by abandoning your game plan just because they hit some tough shots or whatever the case is. We settled the game down."

"The experience helps and you want to rely on that in just keeping your calm and composure especially on the road," he added.

Game 2 takes place Wednesday night at the Toyota Center again as the Rockets will look to bounce back and peg the series to 1-1 in hopes of reaching their first-ever NBA Finals since 1995 when they last won a championship.