What some people have been arguing since we got eliminated. While the board was spending 99% of its time on Harden and our 3 point philosophy.
Only Durant was absent against Rockets Raptors played against GS without Durant, Klay injured twice (missed a game), Looney with a fracture (missed a game) and Iggy hobbled. If Klay had finished Game 6, we most likely be looking at a Game 7 Not only Rockets, I am sure even Clippers and Portland could probably beat a GS with Steph as the only genuine offensive outlet, and their best defensive players outside of Draymond being absent or seriously injured.
I said Raptors weren't fully healthy, I didn't say Raptor's injury level and GS's level are same. If this is to be remembered as why a team lost...it can be argued that same is valid for all 3 GS championships. GS hasn't yet defeated Kawhi in playoffs..it can well be argued that GS won last 2 years championships in absence of Kawhi.
You make that argument, but no one outside of Toronto is going to believe you. The Raptors caught a huge break when the Warriors were injured and capitalized. It is a lot like the year the Pistons beat the Lakers.
Actually many NBA Analyst (Skip Bayless for example) already mentioned that if Zaza didn't injure Kawhi (when SA in 3rd quarter was leading by 25+ points) in 2017 playoffs, SA had good chance of beating GS. Skip Bayless tweet: I really liked this year's Spurs team. If Kawhi hadn't been dirty-play hurt, this year's Spurs would have beaten GSt and beaten LeBron. 9:37 AM - 27 May 2017
Warriors can offer max salary to kd, Thompson, I think Tilman can find another 2 all stars offer max for them and pay the tax
Good for them to have beaten the Bucks and also remember they got past Philly via a lucky bounce in a Game 7. But we are not in the eastern conference, so I really dont care much for what anyone has to go through in the east. GSW is the great wall blocking everyone else in the west from getting to the finals. I firmly believe, that quite a few teams in the west, and particularly the Rockets of the last two seasons, would have been able to beat the version of the GS that Toronto faced. Unfortunately, we have always faced a full strength or close to full strength GS. Like I said earlier, it better to be lucky than to be good.
Not really. The rockets lost to GS when they didn’t have Curry in 2016 and choked this year games 5 and 6 when they didn’t have Durant.
Yeah, with what cap space? Warriors have KD and Thompson’s Bird Rights which is why they can offer them the max...
Rockets are mentally weak. James Harden would miss Fts again and again in clutch time. This is all about mental toughness. I don't think Rockets can win based upon history.
Clippers with only role players won 2 games against a healthy Warriors team this playoff. And you guys assuming Kawhi's Raptors can't do better? Raptors can definitely win 3 or 4 games against a healthy Warriors, they did sweep them in regular season even with KD playing. Raptors winning in 7 is not out of the question. I think it's sucks Warriors had so many injuries, it robs Raptors of a chance to prove they were a better team. That team came back from down 0-2 to sweep the freaking Bucks. It tells me Nurse knows how to adjust when they are losing. Hopefully we see a rematch in the future.
and 2016 is not in the last two seasons! The 2016 Rockets should never be mentioned in any serious conversation on championship contention.
Their mental weakness does not stop them from beating teams that are much weaker than them, and the GS in the finals is much weaker than the Rockets of last 2 seasons.
