Experience prevailed in the final undecided first-round series of the 2025 NBA Playoffs, as the Golden State Warriors ended the Houston Rockets' promising season with a 103-89 Game 7 win.

Buddy Hield scored a post-season career-high 33 points and Stephen Curry recorded 14 of his 22 points in the fourth quarter as the seventh-seeded Warriors set up a Western Conference semi-final showdown with Minnesota, which also advanced as a lower-seeded team. The No. 6 Timberwolves took out the third-seeded Los Angeles Lakers in five games earlier this week. 

Strong defence and hot shooting also propelled the battle-tested Warriors past the second-seeded Rockets, who went 52-30 in the regular season but had their first play-off experience since 2020 come to an early end.

Golden State knocked down 18 shots from 3-point range, with Hield going 9 for 11 to tie an NBA record for most made triples in a Game 7, while holding Houston to a 6-of-18 success rate from beyond the arc and 40.5 per cent shooting overall.

Jimmy Butler added 20 points, eight rebounds and seven assists for the Warriors, who will next head to Minneapolis for Tuesday's opener of that series.

Amen Thompson paced the Rockets with 24 points to go along with nine rebounds, while Alperen Sengun posted 21 points and 14 rebounds for the Southwest Division champions.

The Warriors bounced back strongly from losses in Games 5 and 6 by controlling much of this matchup from the outset. Up 23-19 after one quarter, they stretched the margin soon afterward when Hield's 3-pointer and a three-point play from Kevon Looney put the Rockets at a 33-24 deficit early in the second.

Hield sank three more 3-pointers within a span of under 90 seconds late in the first half to extend Golden State's advantage to 48-34, and finished with 22 points through the first two quarters to help send the Warriors into the break ahead 51-39.

With NINE made tonight, Buddy Hield has tied the NBA record for most threes in a Game 7pic.twitter.com/dkYLEC8Ni2

— Golden State Warriors (@warriors) May 5, 2025

Houston was able to close the gap after half-time, as Sengun and Thompson led a 17-7 run that trimmed the Warriors' lead to 63-60 late in the third quarter. Butler answered with a 3-pointer on the next possession as Golden State withstood that push to eventually enter the fourth with a 70-62 lead.

Curry then took over in the final period following a quiet first three quarters. The two-time NBA MVP began the frame with a layup and 3-pointer to put the Warriors back up by double digits with under 11 minutes left.

The Rockets got within eight points down with under five minutes to go, but the Warriors put the game away with a 12-0 run capped by threes from Curry and Hield to build their lead to 94-74 with 2 1/2 minutes left.

Pacers stun top-seeded Cavaliers in East semifinal Game 1

Andrew Nembhard scored 23 points and helped spark a fourth-quarter run that carried the Indiana Pacers to a surprising 121-112 road win over the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 1 of an Eastern Conference semi-final.

Despite Cleveland star Donovan Mitchell breaking a longstanding NBA post-season record held by the legendary Michael Jordan, Indiana's backcourt proved to be the difference as the fourth-seeded Pacers erased the top-seeded Cavaliers' home-court advantage for the best-of-seven series. 

Nembhard went 5 of 6 from 3-point range and 7 of 10 overall from the field, while Tyrese Haliburton amassed 22 points and 13 assists as the duo were at the forefront of a 15-4 surge in the late stages that put the Pacers up for good.

Mitchell finished with 33 points for his eighth consecutive game with 30 or more in a play-off series opener, surpassing the seven straight times Jordan did so in Game 1s from 1991-93 and again from 1997-98.

The Cavaliers couldn't overcome the injury absence of fellow All-Star Darius Garland, however, in their first real test of this year's post-season. Cleveland was off nearly a week since dispatching Miami in the opening round with a four-game sweep in which the Cavs outscored the Heat by a combined 122 points.

Pascal Siakam and Aaron Nesmith each contributed 17 points and eight rebounds to Indiana's upset, while Myles Turner added 13 points and 11 rebounds.

Cleveland, which will try to bounce back at home in Tuesday's Game 2, also received 21 points from Ty Jerome and 20 points and 10 rebounds from Evan Mobley.

The Cavs battled back from a 12-point third-quarter deficit to take a 102-101 lead when Max Strus followed Mitchell's game-tying layup by making 1 of 2 free throws with seven minutes left.

Haliburton answered with a 3-pointer shortly afterward, however, and Nembhard followed with one of his own on Indiana's next trip down the court to start the game-deciding run. Haliburton capped the spurt with a layup with 1:53 left that pushed the Pacers' lead to 116-106.

With 13 AST tonight, Tyrese Haliburton is up to 71 through IND's first 6 playoff games

He becomes the 6th player since 2000 to total 70+ AST in the first 6 games of a playoff run, joining:

Rajon Rondo (3x)
Steve Nash (2x)
John Wall
Chris Paul
Jason Kidd https://t.co/uRLbl97Z4O pic.twitter.com/cfhBJDXK23

— NBA.com/Stats (@nbastats) May 5, 2025

Siakam recorded 13 first-half points to help send Indiana into the break owning a 64-58 advantage, and Nesmith later hit a pair of 3s during an 11-3 run that put the Pacers up 80-68 five minutes into the third quarter.

Mitchell then led Cleveland on a 20-4 run that gave his team an 88-84 edge late in the third quarter.