You must have missed the Grizzlies Warriors series where they lost at home...and it was their worst matchup.
If by backcourt you mean Tonny Allen who they exposed and took advantage to a humilliating level after game 3 then yes he got injured. Conley missed game one only if I remember correctly. Warriors did face adversity in this series. And the Rockets are the underdogs. However I don't give up and I will gladly embrace the underdog tag and cheer on and go on fighting - as a fan .
Bring on the Golden State Chuckers. That's what they do, chuck up jumpers. I don't think Curry is going to get away with chucking up some of the horrible shots he does against a team that knows how to defend the 3. Yeah Curry and Thompson will get theirs, but like the Clippers, I don't think they can beat the Rockets playing 2 on 5.
The Warriors do more than shoot threes. They do everything AND they have a deep bench. Spoiler If we had at least one of Bev or D-Mo I would feel much better going into the series. If Klay plays his defense on Harden and we can't get offensive production from James then someone else will need to step up. That used to be D-Mo. Smith stepped up against the Clippers, but Draymond Green is a much better defender than Blake Griffin. Barnes and Iggy are elite and they will give Brewer and Ariza trouble. That leaves Dwight. Can he dominate Bogut? He has the foot speed, but Bogut is no pushover on defense.
This is going to be a really fun series, I have a belief in these guys i haven't had before.. are we favorites? god no but does that mean our best can't beat them? absolutely not. we need to bring it from the start and we are a chance. I believe
Actually they don't get to the line near as much as Houston. If Curry has a bad shooting night they are toast.
we never had playoff dwight in the season. we are more dangerous with playoff dwight. its gonna be a fun matchup
Bogut is not just a "no pushover on defence" he is one of the best defensive centers in the league. On top of that, in contrast to Jordan, he is a sneaky dirty defender that will FOR SURE do something sneaky to get on Howards nerves and bait him to foul. On the other hand, he always gets injured in the postseasons and he hasn't yet. But there's still time.
I never bought that the Rockets were outmatched in talent against the Clippers. Just a tough matchup that they were able to overcome. The Warriors are really deep, though, and their level of execution is significantly better at both ends. If the Rockets are going to beat them they're going to have to really play their asses off. They need to go at the Warriors like the 2004 Pistons went at the Lakers. Just overwhelm them with intensity and minimize screw-ups as much as possible.
they were down 2-1 against memphis with game 4 in memphis. that was definitely some adversity. its gonna be a tough one.
The Rockets played well even with Harden not shooting the way he's capable of. I thought the Clippers were a great test to the Rockets as far as having a great point guard like Paul vs. Curry. That said, this will be fun to watch unless the Rockets don't show the same heart. Gosh, I wish McHale and the coaches can make the Rockets feel like they're down 3-1 all the time.
The Mavs were just a crap team and injured to boot. The Clippers lacked depth and were beaten up from the Spurs series. The Warriors are one of the most elite squads in the league in decades. Offense, defense, three point shooting, depth there are just little to no holes. I pegged Clippers as 50/50 but quite honestly it would take a friggin miracle to win this series. It would take excellent 3 point shooting, insane effort on defense, a significant improvement in FT shooting, keeping the turnovers waaay down, and Harden and Howard going into MVP mode to get it done. Just no way... the Warriors do all those things naturally.
No media outside Houston will dare give the Rockets a shot at winning this. The X factor they don't seem to understand is that a healthy playoff mode Dwight is playing. If Deandre Jordan can't successfully limit Howard's rebounding and domination inside the paint, Bogut won't either.
the biggest problem i see is we need to hide 2 perimeter defenders (terry and harden) this series. i would strongly consider starting brewer, so that we can put ariza on curry. brewer would then stick thompson, with harden on barnes/iggy.
Losing a couple of playoff games does not equate to adversity. At least not on the level of what teams like the Rockets, Cavs, LAC, etc have faced this season. GS has stayed healthy and rolled through the season virtually untested. So again I'll say... It's time to see what they're made of.
We run their main scorers off of PnR all night long, making Curry or Klay have to play D on every possession. This will tire them by the 4th Qtr, also push them to their left hands and force them to finish or shoot tough jumpers coming back to their right hands. Tjones, Prig, Brewer, and Eastwood must play above their bench.
This is an incredibly difficult matchup. Warriors are more talented up and down the roster. If gene rockets play at the insane level of energy they had this last game against the clippers, they can beat anyone.
You put your best defender on Curry, try to at least contain the rest of them, and hope Dwight ascends to the next level and destroys them in the paint. Dwight is the key to this round... if he balls out, we have a chance.
