So i'm on another forum arguing with some cocky Warriors fans who thinks the Warriors are a better team than the Rockets...to help me prove my point on that forum, answer these questions: 1. What do you think of the Warriors? 2. Do you see the Warriors as a threat to the Rockets?
I think the Warriors are an outstanding team that for whatever reason has underperformed this season. Yes I think they are a threat to the Rockets but no I don't think they are as good or will beat the Rockets in a 7 game series.
We have a better record, we beat them more than they beat us, we have 2 stars and they have 1. I ain't got no worries about Golden State.
Jump shooting team. You know what happens in the playoffs? People stop bull****ting around and defend that **** real well.
We should be better than them, but the last game showed our weaknesses. They are more or less in the same boat as we are right now.
I thought Iggy could be a Harden stopper so that gives them some edge. But after last game, i am pretty sure they be fked when Harden steps up.
My brother sees them as a threat but I think otherwise. We laid an absolute egg offensively and they BARELY beat us. We have had their number this season and the last. At first I was worried about Iggy locking down Harden but maybe he's lost a step or two, considering the beard went off. Jump shooting teams don't make it far in June postseason. I would be glad to take them on in the post season. It would be like when we played Portland in '09 and everyone seemed to call that they'd beat us, even though we knew we were the better team. I think they've underperformed and are overhyped.
Match ups favor the Rockets in a 7 game series. Huge advantage with Howard and Asik over who ever they roll out there...full game advantage Rockets. Bev and Harden with Lin back-up more than offsets Curry and Thompson. Parsons better offensively than Iggy but Iggy better on def. D. Lee has an edge over TJones but continued improved play from DMo gives our bench edge. Barring injuries, we have a significant advantage over them and I'd love to meet them in second round....that would mean a trip to WCF for the Rockets.
Thoughts On The Warriors The Warriors are a worse regular season team than the Rockets because they don't have as much depth as the Rockets do, however in a Playoff series, the two teams match up very closely. The Dubs bench is pretty bad, the most glaring hole is that for a majority of the season they had no ball-handler off the bench to relieve Curry + Iguodala of ball handling duties, however now that they've acquired Steve Blake, this shouldn't be as much of a problem. What is still a problem however, is that last year, Curry was able to play with Jarret Jack as the PG (who was a penetrating/drive + kick player) in crunch time, and as Jack penetrated Curry could run off screens for jumpers. This year, without Jack's penetration + ballhandling, Curry has to handle the PG duties himself and if he is closing out the game for the team, he is doing it on ISOs. Even though they now have Steve Blake, Blake is not a penetrating PG, so Curry will continue to close out games on ISOs, which was not as great of an option as last year, when he closed out games on jumpers off of screens. The Warriors defense is actually pretty good, and it is much better than the Rockets. Iggy + Klay make for better wing defenders than the Rockets could dream of. Bogut is a true rim protector and Jermaine O'Neal (who has missed most of the season) has returned and looked like a savant on the defensive end as well. Thoughts on Rox/Dubs Playoff Series It's a 50/50 series or 60/40 series in favorite of the Rockets. Houston would have Home Court, which would push it to 55/45 - 65-35 for the Rockets. Houston has bad wing defense and Golden State has great offensive guards, theoretically this would mean that the Dubs should be able to take advantage on the offensive end, but in the series match ups this has not been the case. Why? Because bad wing defense = penetration, and Curry + Klay are jump shooters. They can not fully take advantage of Houston's bad wing defense because they don't thrive on penetration. This is the greatest hindrance for the Dubs, as what is normally their strength (Jumpshooting) is not maximized as it also a mirror of their weakness (Penetration), and does not take advantage of Houston's flaws. Houston's issues would be mainly with Dwight Howard. Dwight is a power-player in the post. There is no way around that. He is very stiff and depends on his power + athleticism. His moves are telegraph, but often effective just because the other Center can not PHYSICALLY stop him. This is not a problem if the opposing Center can't handle Dwight on the physical level, however J. O'Neal can (and just proved) that HE CAN HANDLE DWIGHT physically. On top of O'Neal, there is also Bogut, who can also physically handle Dwight. Add on to the fact that Howard does not have a plethora of post-moves (and thusly will be figured out in a 7-Game series rather quickly) and it is not looking good for Dwight. So in a series, you have the Dub's main offensive strength not being maximized (but not being minimized), the Rockets most glaring defensive weaknesses not being exploited and Dwight Howard facing terrible match-ups. Essentially you have: - Curry+Klay shooting lots of Jumpers at a normal rate (Probably a little more since it's Post-Season) - Harden being able to be guarded by two good/great defenders in Iggy+Klay - Dwight in a physically battle 48 minutes a game vs Bogut/O'Neal - Stretches where an underwhelming Dubs bench is subbed him (But maybe O'Neal changes this?) It's a pretty even series all things considered, but Houston has more depth and would have home-court, so they should be favored to win at 55-65 percent. The Dubs winning would not be surprising at all though. The are a very good team and the West is stacked.
The Warriors is a scary team when they are running hot but the Rockets has the wood on them over the last 2 years. I don't think Iggy will make that much a difference to change the tide when we had acquired Howard.
Same. I thought so too but Harden scored at will on em. I doubt Oneal will ever have as good a game as he did as well against Dwight.
