Will home-court advantage matter in Warriors, Rockets series? Here’s what the numbers say.

HOUSTON If the Warriors want to win the franchise s fifth championship of the Steph Curry era they will have to do so without home-court advantage in their first-round series against Houston that starts Sunday and supposedly any other matchup along the way That is not the end of the world according to Golden State coach Steve Kerr who of late stated that having home-court advantage does not provide the upper hand like it once did The -point shooting is such a variable and it feels like in the old days it was much more of a grind-it-out -point tournament Kerr stated It just didn t feel like the opponent had as much of a chance to suddenly get hot and take over the momentum of the championship The seventh-seeded Warriors - entered the postseason fourth in -point makes per battle and the No seed Rockets - st at Having a roster filled with playoff-tested veterans such as Draymond Green and Jimmy Butler has also been touted by the crew in modern weeks None of Golden State s experienced core is going to be phased by raucous road atmospheres Especially in Houston where Curry Green and veteran big man Kevon Looney faced the James Harden-led Rockets four times in five seasons between and and won them all including a seventh tournament in Houston We understand the milieu even just being in the city how to spend time during a two-game-in-five-day stretch stated Curry while noting that the rest of the band was not around for those playoff battles Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr talks with Golden State Warriors Stephen Curry after their - win over the Memphis Grizzlies for their NBA play-in tournament competition at the Chase Center in San Francisco Calif on Tuesday April Nhat V Meyer Bay Area News Group But are upsets like the one Golden State seeks to pull off really more prevalent in the modern NBA And how much does -point shooting really affect the outcome The numbers paint a complicated picture From to there have been first-round playoff series Of those the lower seed has won times But despite what Kerr announced upsets have not become more prevalent with the rapid increase in -point shooting Twenty of those upsets occurred before the season that Kerr took over the Warriors Golden State won its first title in decades and the NBA s -point revolution began in earnest While the club that made more -pointers accounted for series wins of the six most-recent upsets over the past two years only two of those teams made more threes than its opponent Golden State was one of those two in when Curry went to Sacramento and scored in Championship while making seven -pointers himself in the first-round upset The Warriors veteran experience at least on paper is also not an overwhelming advantage Though bench players might skew averages the gang with an older average age accounted for just of the upsets However Golden State has good reason to believe it does not need home-court advantage to win against the young Rockets During the teams epic seven-game series in the conference finals Houston was the top seed The Rockets proceeded to infamously brick straight -pointers while Kevin Durant scored a game-high to propel Golden State to a - conquest in Meeting of the Western Conference finals James Harden of the Houston Rockets goes up against Kevon Looney and Klay Thompson of the Golden State Warriors in the first quarter of Event Seven of the Western Conference Finals of the NBA Playoffs at Toyota Center on May in Houston Texas NOTE TO USER User expressly acknowledges and agrees that by downloading and or using this photograph User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement Photo by Bob Levey Getty Images And in the eventual champion Warriors earned the No seed and knocked off second-seeded Memphis in the second round Once they reached the championship round Curry s Warriors won twice in Boston including the series clincher in Championship to capture the franchise s fifth title Related Articles Matchups Where do Warriors have advantage over Rockets in NBA playoff series How Warriors plan to combat Houston s rough-and-tumble style in playoffs Five stats and milestones that explain Steph Curry s incredible season for Warriors Klay Thompson leads Mavericks past Kings in play-in after last year s dud with Warriors Can Jimmy Butler fuel a Warriors playoff run like prior midseason acquisitions for Bay Area teams It invariably helps to have home-court advantage and that s why we fight so hard for it Looney declared But with our experience we know we can win on the road and we know we can win at home so we re not scared to go into somebody else s place and try to get a win The Warriors also have Butler who twice and led Miami to first-round upsets en direction to shocking runs to the NBA Finals And before Kerr arrived Curry s postseason coming-out party in occurred when he lit up the Nuggets to help the sixth-seeded Warriors win in six games and the We Believe Warriors in captivated the NBA world by stunning the top-seeded Dallas Mavericks - So while upsets have not become as common as long-distance shooting there is still plenty of reason to believe the Warriors have a terrific shot at becoming just the third No seed to pull off a first-round upset in the past years