This! I truly believe we have a good shot at this but we have to steal one of the first two games... Steal game one and our confidence grows even more and we begin to believe it can be done. If we steal game one so much pressure will be on GSW. Can they respond?
http://www.mercurynews.com/warriors/ci_28136489/capsule-look-at-warriors-sweep-rockets Capsule look at Warriors' sweep of Rockets Ready for liftoff Golden State won all four regular-season meetings against the champs of the Southwest Division. A look back at those games: Nov. 8 at Houston: Warriors 98, Rockets 87 Stephen Curry had 34 points, 10 rebounds and five assists, but perhaps more important were two fourth-quarter steals that helped stifle the Rockets and hand Houston its first loss of the season after six wins. "Spread the word," Curry said when asked if he was looking to make the NBA's All-Defensive team. The Warriors improved to 5-0 despite making 26 turnovers, some of which "would make a sixth-grader blush," rookie coach Steve Kerr said. "It's shocking to me ... we're making some of the dumbest passes I've ever seen in my life, and we're still winning." Three starters sat out for the Rockets, including All-Star center Dwight Howard. Dec. 10 at Oakland: Warriors 105, Rockets 93 Center Andrew Bogut sat out with a sore knee, but a small lineup fueled an 11-0 run that turned a tie game with roughly five minutes left into a runaway win, the Warriors' record 14th straight. Rockets star James Harden had 34 points with 4:45 to go but didn't get another point. Houston also was missing its starting center, Dwight Howard. Asked how it felt being the first 19-2 rookie coach in NBA history, Steve Kerr said: "It means I'm the luckiest coach in NBA history because I inherited a team that was already this good." The Warriors' win streak ended at 16 with a 105-98 loss at Memphis on Dec. 16. Jan. 17 at Houston: Warriors 131, Rockets 106 The Warriors, in the second game of a road back-to-back, led by as many as 31 points and improved to 32-6. Splash Brothers Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson scored 27 points apiece on 18-of-33 shooting. Afterward, Curry said Thompson deserved to be an All-Star. "If you look at his body of work and what he's been able to do on both ends of the floor, the argument kind of speaks for itself." Thompson notched a career-high five blocks in helping hold NBA scoring leader James Harden to 12 points on 4-of-15 shooting. Dwight Howard, in his first game against the Warriors this season, led the Rockets with 23 points and 10 rebounds. Jan. 21 at Oakland: Warriors 126, Rockets 113 With the Warriors en route to their second blowout of the Rockets in five days, Stephen Curry showed a rarely seen angry side after what he called "a cheap shot" by the Rockets' Trevor Ariza while going down the court in the third quarter. Draymond Green kept Curry from going after Ariza, who had given Curry a hard bump. The Warriors would take a 30-point lead and complete a 4-0 regular-season sweep of Houston. "That's how they wanted to try to get back in the game," Curry said. "It didn't work." Klay Thompson led the Warriors with 27 points, and Curry added 22. James Harden led all scorers with 33.
I honestly think we can sweep them Both the pelicans and Memphis don't really have both an inside and outside game. We have both. Dwight/jones/smith are gonna run a train inside, harden/ariza/brewer/terry gonna have good shots on the outside Warriors aren't going to be able to defend us in the paint. Let curry get his, but shut down everyone else
No doubt the Warriors are great. No doubt it will be difficult. And the Warriors should be the favorites, why not? What bothers me is how the media gives no credit to the Rockets, and says the Warriors have no reason to sweep us or in 5. If the warriors have that mentality as well, I am glad, because Houston has the mentality of a champion right now. The moment they came back from that 19 point lead changed everything mentally for this team. So if the Warriors are thinking, we beat them 4 in the regular season, they are in for a rude awakening, because Houston is going to punch them in the mouth. We had a very physical, and mentally draining series and pulled it out Go Rockets!!!
And going up against Chris Paul it didn't hurt?? This team has learned to play without him, and having two stable veterans at the position has helped tremendously.
Of course it hurt against Paul, but the one thing you could fall back on with Paul is that he isn't going to go out there and attack the opposing PG on every possession and try to put 50+. Curry could do that.
In the Clippers series, the Rockets learned a lot about different adjustments they had to make to scrape out playoff level games. The team has had a huge growth of confidence, but not the sort of confidence that comes from winning a series 5-1. They got that special kind of confidence that can only from doing what these guys did. That's powerful juju. If they ride that wave, the Warriors are going to be scrambling in these games. With Dwight back, we're much more of a force. If our shots are falling, we can neutralize them. I didn't think we'd make it through this Clippers series, but the first few games our guys played like they didn't believe it either. They're not just a different team from when we last played the Warriors; they're a different team from when they started the Clippers series. Anything's on the table now in this upcoming series.
Very nice points! I have also been harping on about the Rockets vs the Warrior in the regular season games. The Rockets are not that team that the Warriors beat in the regular season. Also, The Grizzlies were leading in the series when Tony Allen was playing healthy once he got his hamstring hurt again the Warriors were able to take over series. The Rockets will shock the world once again!
Agreed Rockets are deeper than Memphis IMO I think the Rockets need to attack Bogut OVER AND OVER AND OVER AGAIN Rocket River
All true but Klay Thompson is the X factor he can go off for 40 any day of the week. He is the 2nd best SG and is the most threatening player on the Warriors.
Memphis could have beaten the Warriors if they had more fire power. They were not able to stay with GSW's high powered offense. We have both the inside and the outside. Our team is more cohesive now and everyone knows their roles. I say Rockets in 6.
Golden State is way over-hyped and overrated imo, they basically played neck and neck with the Pelicans with the exception of game 4, and they struggled mightily against the Grizzlies when Tony Allen and Mike Conley were both on the court. They are not invincible, as a matter of fact, I kinda think they are an easier match up for us than the Clippers because they have no inside presence who can take advantage of our weak 4 spot.
