We are actually good when Harden is on the floor. Like our best lineups are actually without Russ. We'll be fine without him for a couple of games. We said this last year out both of those guys and look what happend. PJ shot above 40% from 3 and EG had a TS of 60% As long as they show up for these games, the regular season does not matter. Their playoff stats for both PJ and EG are pretty good. Let's see what happens with our young guys. I dont know if you've been watching the bubble games but Maclemore has been our best shooter and House has actually been playing very well. As far as Russ who knows how he's gonna look when he gets back. I'm confident we can beat the Thunder even if he doesnt play the whole series. We are not losing in 5. We will be okay. The Thunder arent easy but they arent some mega talented Warriors team, we can beat them, with or without Westbrook.
Roco has been amazing on defense, trust me. He's been a positive on the floor even if his shot has been off.
The irony is we traded a player who can't stay healthy in the playoffs for someone who now is injured in the playoffs
Did you see our team without Russ aside from Harden against Indiana? That was literally yesterday. That’s what you can expect from our role players in a playoff game. Did you see House last year in the playoffs? Have you seen Ben in the playoffs ever?
They were on the second night of a back to back to be fair. A meaningless bubble game shoulndt be a reflection of what's to come. I don't expect the team to shoot 29% from 3 night in and night out. Yea House wasnt good, but then again House hasnt ever looked this good before in the regular season. Same with House, I've never seen him shoot this good. But honestly, let's just see what happens in game 1 before we start saying our guys can't deliver. Losing in 5 when we have by far the best player on the floor is a definite failure that I don't think is gonna happen because we have James Harden.
The likelyhood of DMC and Frazier getting any meaningful minutes is not likely. They both played 13 mins each. Clemons got 5. On the flip side, Gordon played 20, Tucker played 28. I would expect them both to be in mid-30’s, and House in the upper 20’s who also didn’t play yesterday. I’m cautiously optimistic about those 3 - Gordon and Tuck have shown up in the playoffs last couple of years. House has played really well in the bubble.
I’m really concerned about the number of insecure fans on this forum. They allow themselves to be swayed by bs media narratives. Harden has murdered everyone who has taken their best shot at him, except the Warriors. Everyone other than Durant and Curry and their franchise players and mvp candidates can STFU. Incidentally, we couldn’t beat the Warriors last season after durant went down because they triple teamed harden and Chris Paul couldn’t even play as well as sophomore Van Vleet or Lowry did against them.
Fair about the minute distribution. Did not take that into account. Though Tucker and EG both shot horribly in the minutes they did play. And I just fear Ben will be a Luther Head playoff player. Luther probably had one of the worst regular season / playoff net rating if such a stat existed.
With strained quad, he is going to miss one to two games in the series at max. Even without Russ, we still have the beard. It's the OKC that should be shiatting in their pantyhose right now.
Bunch of chicken littles. If we cant beat the freaking OKC in the first round, this team needs to be rebuilt anyways. We will beat the Thunders. I am just hoping it will be a quick one.
Fairly likely he misses more than 2 games based on reports. they're definitely not scared. especially when they came back down 20 in the 4th quarter to make the actual matchup official.
I voted OKC in 5 as well for these exact reasons. Harden will be the best player in the series, by far, but I just don't see the rest of the team being consistently good enough to win. I've barely been able to watch any NBA this season (pre-bubble and bubble) so I'm open to being wrong. GO ROCKETS!
Gallo is a good player. Don't exaggerate. They have a bunch of good players with a floor general in CP. That's about it. If we keep playing our games. Rockets in 6. We are more talented than the thunder. Gallo is not James Harden, so quit pretending they have a superstar. Yes, anything can happen in sports, but OKC in 5 ... you gotta be shiatting me
The chick little analysis is the rest of the team is not good, and we have lost games that we shouldn't lose because the rest of the team was not good, blah blah. Not much substance. Hey, I have watched those games too. Basketball is not played based on the stat sheet you see and points to that big 0 points of Tucker and 2 for 9 of Roco. We will shoot the lights out, that's just how this team is built. The key to me is our ability to shut people off for extended period of time. I am not delusional to call this team an elite defensive team, but I have seen grits in stretches that we can lock it down. I have seen it in the bubble game. That will be the key. If we can keep doing that consistently, not asking much, just 5 to 7 minute lock down defense, that's all we need. I bet on our 3 pt shooting will win out eventually in a series and the stardom of Harden. I like our chance against OKC a lot as matter of face, and excited to see how we perform without Russ. If we have success without Russ, watch out the Lakers.
I'm an outsider with some inside knowledge. Westbrook sucks in playoffs. He tries to take over and It kills his team. So it's good he's missing a few games. I guess he'd help vs Lakers in second round if he plays smart and murders Alex Caruso. Good luck. Houston- you don't have a problem.
McLemore is shooting 44% from 3 - he was shooting 75% at one point in the bubble. BMac's comp coming out of college was Ray Allen because his shooting form was so pure. Worry about other guys, not BMac.
The irony of CP being healthy and Russ being hurt is incredible. This series is 50/50 it isn’t even close to walk in the park with this team. I wouldn’t be shocked if we win in 6 and I wouldn’t be shocked if we lost in 6.
