Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals between the Golden State Warriors and the Houston Rockets takes place on Monday night at the Toyota Center in Houston. For many Warriors players, it's an all too familiar stage of the playoffs, but for many Rockets stars, it is not.

Many believe the Rockets might have the current edge in this series because of their hunger to win, especially when you take into account that their star players like James Harden and Chris Paul have never won an NBA title.

However, Warriors head coach Steve Kerr believes it's the complete opposite. He believes his own team has the edge over Houston because of their experience in the NBA Finals. Since Golden State has two NBA titles over the past three years, they know what it takes to win.

Kerr said, according to ESPN: "No, I like where we are. Our guys have rings. That's a good position to be in. To me, the hardest championship is the first one, as an individual player and as a team, because you don't know -- you don't quite know if you can do it.

"Once you get the first one, there's a little bit of house money. But you want it again because it's an unbelievable feeling. I like our position. We're going to go in here knowing we're the defending champs, knowing we got a couple of championships here the last few years. Let's go get another one. It's a nice feeling to have and to go into a series with."

The Warriors have a huge amount of players with Finals appearances. Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green, Andre Iguodala, and Shaun Livingston all have three appearances, Kevin Durant has two appearances (one was with the Oklahoma City Thunder), and Damian Jones, Patrick McCaw, JaVale McGee, Zaza Pachulia, David West all have one appearance.

The only players on their roster that don't have Finals appearances are Jordan Bell, Chris Boucher, Quinn Cook, Nick Young, and Kevon Looney. For the Rockets though, the situation is the complete opposite.

Of the current players on their roster, only Harden and Trevor Ariza have appeared in the NBA Finals, with Harden losing with the Thunder in 2012 with Durant to the Miami Heat, while Ariza made two Finals appearances with the Los Angeles Lakers, winning in 2009.

Paul is only now playing in his first Western Conference finals after 86 career playoff games and he's the second best player on the roster, so it is a worrying prospect. However, there's been a drive and determination by this Rockets team throughout the season, and they're thriving in the situation, and Kerr says his Warriors are ready for them.

Kerr said of the Warriors: "They are taking the challenge and they're embracing it. But we seem to be at our best when we are threatened. That's been kind of the M.O. of this team. And we're definitely threatened."

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