When the Golden State Warriors added Jimmy Butler at the trade deadline, it felt like a proper present for Steph Curry to at least give him a chance to play -- as he termed it -- meaningful basketball again. But it felt like a bit of an oversell to think one player could turn a team dancing on the lottery line into a true-blue contender.

Stephen Curry scored a game-high 31 points and Jimmy Butler added 25 more points plus seven rebounds, six assists and five steals to lead the No. 7 seed Golden State Warriors to a 95-85 road win over the No. 2 seed Houston Rockets in Game 1 of their NBA Western Conference first-round playoff series on Monday.

Steph Curry, Jimmy Butler, and Draymond Green have taken the Warriors to the next level, and even as the seventh seed in the West, they are championship contenders. In Game 1 of the highly anticipated series,