Warriors starting lineup vs. Rockets with Al Horford, Digi Mart USA News (Houston, Texas): The Golden State Warriors (8-3) are starting Al Horford for the first time this season when they face the Houston Rockets (8-3) on Wednesday at Toyota Center.
Horford joins Stephen Curry, Brandin Podziemski, Yaxel Lendeborg and Draymond Green in the starting lineup. His presence makes the Warriors lineup bigger than usual when Gui Santos starts.
Horford will play center, which moves Green to power forward and Lendeborg to small forward.
The decision makes sense given that the Rockets have four players between 6’7″ and 6’11” in their starting lineup: Amen Thompson, Kevin Durant, Jabari Smith Jr. and Alperen Sengun.
Houston’s other starter is 6’0″ point guard Fred VanVleet.
The Warriors’ typical starting lineup that includes Santos has a plus-24.8 net rating, according to Cleaning the Glass. That is outstanding.
However, lineups with Horford and Green have been even better. When those two big players are on the court together, the Warriors have a plus-35.8 net rating, which ranks in the 100th percentile.
That said, the Green, Horford, Curry, Podziemski and Lendeborg lineup, which is Wednesday’s starting five, has a minus-4.2 net rating. It will be interesting to see how this new starting lineup performs after the Warriors played so well in the first quarters against the Magic and Pelicans with Santos starting.
Overall, tonight’s group is the eighth different Warriors starting lineup this season.
Rockets coach Ime Udoka was asked how Houston will try to slow down Stephen Curry. Thompson is one of the best defensive players in the NBA, and he matched up regularly with Curry in the seven-game series in the 2025 playoffs, which the Warriors won.
Curry is off to a scorching start this season. In nine games, he is averaging 30.6 points on 50.3 percent shooting and 44.7 percent from three-point range.
The Rockets have the sixth-best defensive rating in the league.
The Warriors last won nine games in a row in the second half of the 2021-22 season and went on to win the championship that year. They will look to match that streak Wednesday.
Their current streak includes six consecutive home wins, and beating the Rockets in Houston would arguably be the best win they have had this season.
The game is the start of a challenging five-game road trip in which the Warriors face the Rockets (8-3), Spurs (9-2), Pelicans (4-7), Mavericks (7-4) and Grizzlies (7-3).
