ClutchFans Game Thread: Warriors @ Rockets 4/30/2025 (Playoffs Round 1, Game 5)

street saying warriors didn't want to win this game. but each game has been so close. It was just a matter of ft shooting.

 

Pressure is already on them. They don’t have the two days to rest anymore

 

If the Rockets could make free throws and weren't starting a Make-A-Wish kid at shooting guard we'd have won this series already.

 

That was a different era when the league was much more location- and team-centric. KG may as well have been playing in Siberia back then. There was no YouTube, Instagram, or TikTok to pump out his highlights to a worldwide audience who only cared about him, not the Timberwolves.

There has always been a huge portion of the NBA's fanbase that cares more about players than teams. That's been heightened with guys like LeBron and Durant changing teams so often in their careers compared to previous generations. The league knows that Luka's popularity is baked-in, thus the huge uproar over his trade to their most valuable franchise this summer.

Ant still needs a little bit more success to become a face of the league among casual, player-only fans. Don't forget that he's also American; three out of the top five MVP contenders this season are foreign. I'm sure the NBA wants a homegrown star to emerge for marketing purposes.

 

Barkley was right. The rockets played with speed and in attack mode last night. They did this in game 2 as well. The other games they played slowed down overthinking basketball. Worriers starters can’t keep up with rockets athleticism. Need to pick tempo up and take it to them.

 

It's a dumb excuse. Why would Steve Kerr want to extend a series that has been so physical for his aging team. He only gave in last night because he measured risk (injury) versus reward (coming big from behind and win), Kerr knew the odds were against of making a comeback with such a large deficit, so since they have a cushion and have older players he would prefer to rest, he waved the white flag. I think it was a wise move. I'm sure if we had the same situation in game 3, he probably would have tried to make the comeback to avoid being down 1-2.

 

I agree with your points but again if we assume the league is corrupt they will still prioritize Lebron vs Curry over Ant in Minny. Esp with Luka in LAL as well.

It doesnt really make any sense to eliminate Lakers and avoid possibly the last H2H between Curry and Lebron.

 

Finally Ime stops over helping on Curry and focuses on keeping Hiel/Podz at bay.

Warrior role players are the issue in this series.

 

Jimmy Butler outrebounding Dillon at will (especially in clutch time) needs to be fixed. He's scooting underneath the basketball and getting easy putbacks or getting fouled for free throws. Dillon has poor rebounding technique and doesn't seem to hustle for rebounds. If their is a chance for him to lay out for a rebound, he usually doesn't which is frustrating.

 

I don’t believe in such thing when it comes to playoff games. You could **** around and find out and anything can happen next game.

 

Harsh but funny…
I see it more as a DEI shooting guard… Didn’t Trump ban DEI? What’s happening?

 

I don’t have any reasoning but I dont think Ime will ever run a real offense. He’ll just depend on his best players.

it’s why I’m not against the idea of including Amen in a package for Giannis because it’s hard to picture Amen Giannis and Sengun starting together

 

This is the worst idea I've heard here in quite some time.

 

I believe

Rocket River

 

Dillon is also really unathletic and not that long-armed. It's always been the thing, now that he has become a more-reliable offensive threat, that holds him back from being an elite roleplayer rather than just a good one. He's just not a good rebounder, and is a really poor rim finisher for a small forward.

 

It's not this simple though. Defensive stops, turnovers, & defensive rebounds are how you create the ability play fast. When you give up points it forces you to revert to your half-court offense. The low scoring games we lost in this series were due to missed FT's, not our half-court offense.

I understand the optics, but the drivers are the real key.

 

He doesn’t layup for loose balls either. A lot of 50-50 balls be up for grabs in Dillon’s facility and he almost never gathers them. If it’s a race between him and another player, I almost always expect Dillon to loose that battles

 

I can tell yall now, In game 6, D Raymond is going to act a donkey.

 

we have Dillion brooks though, he’ll out ass the donkey.