I'm not Les. He doesn't owe me anything, nor do I owe him some special status. THEY had an under the table deal. As a fan, I don't care about Les and Barkley's commercial business. What I care about is that Barkley showed up to that season looking like Bam Bam Bigelow. And then he trashed us from then until the day no faith was required to support us. That's not fandom. And, yes, he has been paid. Media is my business, I understand full well how he enriched himself at the expense of the Rockets organization and fans.
I like how someone on that show repeated CP3's "Harden under the weather" and Barkley said, "Well, he took 22 shots, he can't be too sick." Charles has never been an intellectual so I don't expect a brain to grow now somewhere in that viscous fluid between his ears (whatever it is that keeps his cranium from collapsing). Anyone with half a clue (again, not Charles) and without a bone to pick (Charles and the $$$ Les didn't pay him) could see in these last two games that Harden was not 100%. And he likely shot 22 times because it is usually up to him to carry the team. Thankfully CP3 stepped up. As far as how this series will go? Assuming James comes back okay (6 days off will help), the invisible role players need to show up for us to have a chance at the series, and even to carry it to 6 games. Look for Ariza on a milk carton. Ryan Anderson: is he hurt or is he suffering a case of the shanks? EGO has to be big. In other words, what got the team to the #1 seed can't desert them; anything can happen in the playoffs (see also: Raptors, Toronto).
this. puzzling how they think the rockets are going to have the exact same game plan vs GS. especially being ex players, they should know every single series is different and theres different gameplans and things to attack and exploit. but hey everyone can pick GS to win. thats the easy cop out
I'm just going to enjoy the ride. The national media is going to be insufferable over the next several days. I haven't heard many giving the Rox a legitimate chance and most are saying the series will be over in 4 or 5. I agree the Rox will have to be on top of their game and have yet to play up to their standards but still match the Warriors record wise in the playoffs so far. Yes at full strength the Warriors are tough and should be considered the best team, but this is a different challenge for them having to go on the road. I believe with the additions of tough guys like Paul, Tucker, Green, etc. and a vet like Ariza this team will back down from and no one and not be intimidated by no one. Looking forward to it and I feel Rox will give it their best shot. Won't be any sleep walking in this series.
The entire team needs inspiration from Clutch City! That's the only way we can win. Talk to the Dream, Talk to Glyde every day. MDA needs to motivate them, and be hard on them when they start slacking off. Go Houston Rockets!
I believe that they will fight against GS. Their style is not too dissimilar from ours. Clint should have shut his mouth though, instead of saying we are better than them. No team needs extra motivation at this juncture. We have to prove ourselves. Give 100 percent effort, fight through the pain. Don't give up. Edited: There to Their.
nah clint can say whatever he wants. his confidence is every part of his development. Good for him. the only players that need to shut their mouths is one who dont back it up with their play.
I actually love what CLINT said. Draymond is pretty much saying the same **** on the other side. its gonna be a dog fight and i cannot wait.
If Rockets hit 40% 3s on high volume every game....Worriers will get swept by that alone. Reasonably I hope the Rockets can get back to 35-38% neighborhood consistently.
Yeah, love watching the TNT crew. That show is entertaining as hell. But the analysis portions is just like the filler - it is only randomly correct and is only there because they "have to" do it and to bridge to the funny moments. Regarding their analysis... Chuck says we all knew this was going to be the match up in October... um, no, nobody thought that. Everyone picked OKC. Chuck himself proclaimed the Clippers were going to be in the WCF in the first week of the season. The Clippers... lol. If you want actual analysis... I'll give it to you The Rockets game plan SHOULD BE: - Exploit Steph EVERY TIME he is on the court. It should be a constant get Steph on Harden or Paul (or EG) show. That said, they overrate KD's exterior defense as well. Certainly against Harden if Harden is cooking. So getting KD out on Harden every so often is a-ok with me. You got to make these guys work. What KD is great at defensively is defending post-ups, cuts, closer to the basket stuff, and worse offensive guards. - Turnovers. I've heard no analyst talk about how amazing the Rockets are doing in this department. Which is mind blowing because its basically what they're dominating at. They aren't shooting great. They aren't defending amazingly.. though pretty solid, especially Clint. But they just RARELY turn the ball over. This is ULTRA important against GSW... since they turn turnovers into massive points and momentum runs. - ISO ball is the BEST way to attack GSW. They keep saying it won't work. And it still might not work. But the way that ABSOLUTELY won't work is to try to mimic their style. Nobody is beating GSW and GSW basketball. Moreover, the single playoff series they've lost in the last 3.5 years was when their opponent basically went ISO ball with their 2 best players. - Rockets switching defense. I tried to watch the Pelicans games, especially last night, pretty closely. They were constantly putting themselves in horrible defensive positions, as they tried to fight through screens, or would attempt to double KD on the post, or simply didn't pay attention. There seems to be a narrative on NBA XM radio and among some coaches recently that switching defense is overrated. I've heard this multiple times in the last week. They're saying "why does everyone switch on defense now? What happened to tough nose , fight through screen defense? Switching gets you out of position and gives the other team mismatches!". And certainly this is true to an extent. But I don't see how else you defend the GSW?? They run constant motion offense, and there is absolutely 0 way you can fight through enough screens to prevent open shots against them. Rockets should just switch all the time, as they already do. And because they already do, they are VERY GOOD at not just switching, but switching appropriately so that say if 3 guys are in an area, they know how to quickly switch to prevent horrible matchups - eg. CP3 might switch with Ariza, but at the same time Tucker is in the area who will switch with CP3, if appropriate. This is obviously a tall order against GSW, but what other option do you have? - there's more... but that's enough
This. Curry is the weakest link the Warriors defense. He will be P&R to death forced to guard Harden, which he has no chance of guarding. If Warriors double, it will be a easy Capela lob or open three three. Rinse and repeat whenever Curry is on the court.
Right, my target is 36%. If they hit 36% or better in 4 games I'll take it and let the chips fall where they may. 40% over the series would be ridiculous. I mean sure, I'd sign up for that right now, but if we hit 40% or better we should win every one of those games. Will be CRUSHING if we lose a game hitting 40% of our threes taking usual volume.
Bottom line is we all know Worriers have 2 of the Best shooters of all time in Klay and Steph. Those guys are ridiculously accurate from anywhere. But, the Rockets have a healthy stable of good to very good shooters. There's that "variance" again in numbers. I'll take the probability of different shooters getting hot on a given night. Rockets are equipped to render a barrage on the Worriers. They didn't get to do that in the Jazz series (and couple times in the Wolves series) but my thought is now they don't have a Towns/Gibson or Gobert to go up against, thus opening up the triple threat again....which was sorely needed and not available in the previous 2 rounds.
