True. Also true is that when 2 guys other than James are hot behind the arc he doesn't care. He still takes all the shots. Tonight, as in similar situations that cost us the game. Disgusting.
I actually want the Warriors early, WCF for them means nothing in terms of tired legs, that only applies to our leaders and more injuries waiting to happen the longer the play-offs last. Give me the Jazz and then the Warriors all day over a Thunder and Spurs in both rounds with Warriors waiting.
Thanks for brightening up my day. It’s like in Rocky part two: OKC “is all wrong for us baby”. Let some other team take them out; I don’t want none of them till the WCF
CP didn't choke. The guy had only 1 turnover. He was the Rockets best player last night, and the team went away from him when it mattered the most. This is a game where they missed MDA. EG trying to create when the ball should have been in CP's hands. MDA is also the best play caller/designer out of timeouts in the league. The team missed his creativity down the stretch. Let's get MDA back and let Jeff B go back to focusing on D. Let's let CP actually handle the freaking ball in the 4th quarter. Play Faried vs athletic teams(okc). House has to grow a pair. He can't be a no show high pressure games. The team will be fine.
CP3 played like a boss indeed. i think they just got worn out in the 4th from playing defense all game...tired legs? == EG missing all those 3s?
Gordon was a dumpster fire. It's always going to be tough to win with 2 starters going 4 for 16, the bench shooting 31% and getting killed on the boards. We had the 2nd seed in our hands, now most likely we're going to fall to 4th with a much tougher path to the finals, **** happens...
Gordon was a disaster. This is where coaching comes into play. Green was red hot and sat for most of the 4th. Rivers was decent and he sat in favor of EG even when it was clear he didn't have it going last night. Sometimes you have to ride the hot hand or in this case, bench the cold hand who's turning the ball over like crazy. As far as trying to look at the bright side, first of all we need to wait and see what happens tonight. It's not unthinkable that Portland struggles against Sactown tonight. The Blazers are on a B2B. The Kings are rested. And at least in their most recent game, Sactown didn't sit anyone and doesn't appear to be mailing it in. So the 3rd spot is still possible. I don't think the Nuggets will lose to a Minnesota team that IS mailing it in and may sit almost everyone tonight. And obviously a lot can happen still with the lower seeded teams in the event the Rockets do wind up 3rd. But should we wind up 4th, I actually don't mind that we're getting Utah. To me, they're the 2nd most favorable opponent out of the 4 we could face. The Clippers are the easiest(and we coulda had them had we not f'ed up the Thunder game), followed by the Jazz, Spurs, and Thunder. I honestly want no part of OKC in Round 1. Last night showed why. We have a real problem holding big leads against them and as bad as they can play at times, they have the highest ceiling of any of the lower seeds. I almost would rather be 4th and get Utah than move up to 3rd and wind up with OKC.
i agree that we don't want OKC at all. they are our worst matchup. i'd rather face Golden state earlier. OKC has too many ppl who can dribble penetrate and rebound. They also defend harden pretty well. Fergeson and schroeder are pretty good. Too much athleticism for our old players. We have to be red hot from 3 to beat them. Their perimeter D is really good even without Andre roberson. how did they fall that far? PG was injured for a stretch right? otherwise they could easily be the 2nd seed.
Their late season slump is due to George's shoulder injury, guys getting cold from three, and possibly chemistry issues(judging from body language anyway). It just didn't look like they were having much fun in recent weeks. But I've always been concerned about the Thunder because we've seen how good they can be when they're clicking. They can play great defense and they have two great perimeter players and one really good big man. No other potential first round opponent is that talented. The Spurs have Aldridge and DeRozan. The Jazz have Mitchell and Gobert(who's a defensive stud, but not an offensive threat). And the Clippers have Lou Williams. Give me any of those teams over OKC.
I agree. If we beat the Thunder, we guarantee playing them in the first round Why is everyone angry that we end up not playing the best lower seed and our worst matchup? I can see the Thunder beating any home team, even the GSW
Well that's not necessarily true. Had we beaten the Thunder, they almost certainly would've been the 8th seed. It would've taken the Spurs coughing up tonight's game at home against the Mavs and the Clippers losing at home to Utah who are on a B2B with nothing to play for. Not to mention OKC would have to win in Milwaukee on a B2B. The Rockets could still wind up with OKC if the Blazers lose at home and the the Thunder win at the Bucks. But I think that's a long shot. No argument on the Thunder being able to beat anyone. It's why I want desperately for Milwaukee to beat them tonight. I'd love for the Warriors to have to deal with OKC in the first round.
The health aspect is definitely something I really hadn't thought of before. Probably a better shot then for CP3 than after 2 rounds.
The Thunder, who have lost 8 out of their last 11 playoff games, will not beat anybody. Who give a **** who the Rockets play? It's the ******* playoffs. Last year everybody was hemming and hawing about the Rockets getting screwed by having to play the Wolves and the Thunder. Instead the Rockets buzzsawed the Wolves and then crushed the Jazz, as did the Warriors to their opponents. Playing the Warriors is all that matters.
This is not the same Thunder team as the last 2 seasons. George is playing much better this year. Melo is gone. Westbrook is shooting horribly, but at least seems to have put some of his heroball antics in check. Schroder was a great pickup. And the young guys have developed nicely. Regarding the Rockets, I agree that if they're on their game, they can beat anyone. And no, the T'Wolves were not an easy 8th seed last season despite the outcome of that series. But let's not pretend that the 2nd seed and (probably) the Clippers followed by Denver, San Antonio, or OKC in Round 2 with home court wasn't a better scenario.
Last year they won 49 games, the previous year they won 47 games - this year they will win, 47-48 games. Friend, we were subjected to "Playoff P!" nonsense last year, as they got flushed down the toilet by "Playoff Ricky Rubio" Nobody is buying it anymore.
Didn't see if this was already answered, but no, for the other 2 losses vs OKC, we were not with our full roster. https://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/201811080OKC.html (EG did not play in that game; still had Melo, Ennis, and Chriss at the time) https://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/201902090HOU.html (Clint was out for the home loss vs OKC)
I was frustrated, tired and disgusted with the way it ended. I meant we choked 4th quarter having our 4 main guys healthy. Everyone fell short at the end and let it slip away. In the 4th quarter we missed 9 3PT shots and 5 layup/jump shots. We lost for many many many reasons, but the big glaring one is OKC grabbing 18 offensive rebounds to our 8. We gave them twice as many chances. They had 5 guys with 2 or more offensive rebounds. We only had 2 (Clint and Tucker). The rest ALL need to put more effort into grabbing those rebounds. I don't know if Faried isn't 100 percent yet, but maybe that's why he didn't play. We need him obviously. House didn't do much of anything offensively or defensively. If Nene or House had even scored one basket we would have won. If Gordon hasn't gone cold from the arc, if Tucker had hit one 3, if Green had come in sooner, if Paul had handled the ball more, if Clint had gotten the ball more, and the list goes on. What if James had let Paul or Green take the 15 3's instead of taking them all? What if James had had more than 3 assists? Even Gordon had 3 assists. What if our coach hadn't been ill? The list goes on and on but the only real excuse was our coach was ill.