Oh yeah, I hear ya. I'm almost 40, lol, I'm not like crying in my cereal bowl over this. Frankly... IF they lose, the frustration for me will be mostly two fold: (i) for my oldest kid, who at 9 is a HUGE Rockets fan (though since he has grown up in Austin, he benefits a bit and is frankly a huge NBA fan, just with the Rockets as his favorite team), and (ii) again just for the frustration of "being right' while not wanting to be. They should ABSOLUTELY win the next one, and have as good a chance as ever at winning game 7. I don't think my "optimism" level as a fan not going to the game, etc. impacts that or whether that happens in any way... ... so I'll be a realist for now, lol.
Interesting article on the medical aspects of a strained/torn calf muscle. The author is a sports medicine physician. https://www.theinjurysource.com/post/kd-calf-injury
Personally, I don't feel good about the next game. How many times have the Rockets had golden opportunities and never capitalized? Its like a curse over the ****ing franchise since they won those championships. It doesn't matter who the players are, we lay a huge ****ing egg when we are given a break.
The Durant injury forces golden state management to pay Klay Thompson a super Max deal with the understanding that Durant gets his with a post dated check. Cousins might have to try Boston or Lakers...shid even Portland for cousins
I see how everyone is saying how the Warriors shouldn't have a problem because "this team went 73-9 without Durant" but that is dead wrong. That team was deep. They had a 9-10 man rotation with 8 guys averaging over 10 minutes a game. Shaun Livingston was running through second units and where they didn't have Durant, they had Harrison Barnes who was still somewhat of a respectable player at that point. This team is different. They went all in with Durant and Boogie and lost their depth. They have 7 guys that they play heavy minutes, counting KD. Yes there will be more shots for the Splash Brothers but with they way we can defend by running them off of the 3 point line, it will be interesting to see what they can do over (hopefully 2) games. We just have to be aggressive and not become passive like we did in the 4th. I think the KD injury really just took us out of our game plan and Oracle got going once Curry hit a few shots. It will be much more difficult for them to maintain that over 4 quarters rather than just 1. If we can get Curry in foul trouble again we force Klay and Draymond to beat us. I like our chances if thats the case. I am not saying we have this 100% if KD is indeed done for the series but I am also not saying that the Warriors are unbeatable without him because "they won 73 games"
Reffing is a huge deal, we can't foul them out when they're not blowing the whistles our way. If we spend too many possessions on that, we end up falling behind.
Agree with part 1 but not 2. Our game plan shouldn't be to get them in foul trouble. The refs are not going to call fouls on klay and curry in a pivotal game.
The game should absolutely be to attack and to get their best players off the court. That should be a given in every NBA game ever played. I am not saying to throw our system out of the window and just sniff our Curry, but we definitely need to attack him when the opportunity is there. He has proven he can't guard James and he isn't smart enough defensively to stay out of foul trouble. He can't get hot and kill us if he's on the bench. The times this team kills me most is when they become passive and begin dribbling the clock down and shooting a bad 3. I understand thats our game, but you have to be able to do other things as well to counter the strengths of the other team. They have 3 guys that are their strength, Curry, Klay, and Draymond. If we can get them off the court for an extended period of time, our chances greatly increase. And enough with the refs "not calling fouls on _____". We are not being cheated. That narrative has to stop.
This is basically Houston's best shot. Capela or CP3 need to play like the money they're making, hell even 1/2 of that money... This'll be a very different match up for Houston and as long as they don't play down to the competition... They can finally make up for last year.
Houston needs to prepare like he can come out at any point, but I'm pretty certain game 6/7 there'll be no Durant
its sad that the only reason why we are in this series is because of hustle play by Tucker, not the greatness of our superstars.
First off, yes that 73-9 team is different for a lot of reasons. First off, the league now is quite different than three to four years ago. The NBA has been adjusting to the Warriors for a long time. Further, if you look at the shots taken by the Warriors, they are taking vastly different shots now. A lot of that is that the league is defending the Warriors differently now. Second, the Warriors are not the same team as the 73-9 group. Andrew Bogut is not nearly as effective. Draymond Green has not had to shoot 3's as often, and as a result is not as effective. The Warriors bench is drastically worse and Curry is older as well. Also I agree with you that the Rockets likely will have the luxury of giving extra attention to Curry and Thompson now that Durant isn't playing. The Warriors will need Green to be able to operate offensively to keep the Rockets honest on the perimeter. The Rockets do need to be aggressive and attempt to utilize their bench to keep Harden/Paul/Tucker fresh in the 4th. It would be great to get the Warriors perimeter players in foul trouble, but just getting them worn out will likely be enough.
One other thing about that 73-9 team. They weren't exactly dominant in the postseason. They found themselves down 3-1 to the Thunder and then blew a 3-1 lead to the Cavs.
It's nice to be the Warriors. "Oh, we lost our MVP? That's okay, we've got a spare. Oh, we lost him, too? Well, we've still got a couple of all-stars and a finals MVP left..."
