This year’s Western Conference features the top two seeds, just like the Eastern Conference. It features two of the most up-tempo offenses and two of the highest scoring teams in the NBA. It also will feature the two top vote getters for this year’s MVP trophy: Stephen Curry and James Harden. This isn’t the first time this has happened. It will be the 22nd time the 1st and 2nd place finishers go to battle, the MVP winner having a 14-7 record. I mean it makes sense though, right? If the two finalists are in the same conference, you’d think that they would eventually meet up and play each other for the right to move on to the ultimate goal in playing for the NBA Title.
It’s the hottest time of the year and NBA’s hottest team all year long isn’t looking to cool down any time soon. A team that averaged 110 points per game was a nightmare for coaches to try to figure out how to stop them. Led by two of the most lethal shooters in the league today, Steph Curry and Klay Thompson have combined for 49 points a game so far in the playoffs. There were a few questions when the Grizzlies were able to slow them down for two games, but Golden State is still putting up triple digit scores in the playoffs. What a “problem” for a “struggling” team to have. When you don’t score 110 points, or when you don’t blow out teams by a large margin, I guess that is when people can start attacking the best team in the NBA. They went into a playoff series and fell a game behind in the series, collected themselves and got right back to what they were doing before. Shooting and scoring. They came out in Game 4 and took 33 three point shots, hitting 42% of them. They took this strategy and carried it through to win the series. The Splash Bros are surrounded by some great role players, however. The offensive of spark that Harrison Barnes and Draymond Green can provide, stretches the floor and gives the Warriors four of five guys that can light up behind the arc. When they start hitting their shots, it’s almost impossible for them to be beat.
15 is a magic number for the Warriors. The Warriors swept the season series vs Houston and did so by winning by an average of 15 points each game. Also, anytime the Warriors have taken a 15 point lead in a game, they are 53-0 this season. 53 times. That’s unreal. Houston must do everything in their power to keep it a close game. The offense that this Golden State team has just doesn’t stay quiet. They can explode at any moment and it is almost as if most teams are just mind-boggled about how they did it and it is just too late. Dub Nation will be looking to ignite the offense behind the three point shooting of Steph Curry. They are 8-0 in the playoffs this year when he makes at least three 3-pointers and their two losses came in the only two games he failed to do so. In the four meetings that they played this year, Steph shot 52% from three point range. Yes, Dwight Howard and Josh Smith played in only two of those games, but James Harden played in all four. He’ll need to do better than his 25ppg against Golden State if he wants his team to have a shot at knocking off the Warriors. Patrick Beverley was there for three of those games and won’t be playing in this series as he is still out with an injury. The fact that he played, was just mentioned to show that it was not like the Warriors beat up on a depleted team.
Many are waiting to see how the Warriors deal with the presence of Dwight Howard in the paint. I don’t think Dwight will have enough of an impact to change the series into Houston’s favor. Golden State just got finished with a series in six games against the Memphis Grizzlies whose frontcourt is led by Marc Gasol and Zach Randolph, a much more daunting task to deal with than this Houston Rockets team. If there is a chance for the Rockets to pull this off, I think it will come with the Rockets playing defense, not the Warriors. The Warriors will embrace a shootout, but Houston needs to lockdown Steph and Klay and just live with mismatches at the other positions. James Harden hasn’t been known, in the least bit, for his defensive play. This will be a huge task for him, whether he is assigned Curry or Thompson.
With the weapons that the Warriors have, this is their series to lose. With home court advantage, the Warriors will have to drop at least one at home, and I just don’t see that happening. The Warriors have the undisputed three point king, but the more important three is the number of letters that will lead Golden State into the Western Conference Finals… MVP.
Warriors in 5.
It’s the hottest time of the year and NBA’s hottest team all year long isn’t looking to cool down any time soon. A team that averaged 110 points per game was a nightmare for coaches to try to figure out how to stop them. Led by two of the most lethal shooters in the league today, Steph Curry and Klay Thompson have combined for 49 points a game so far in the playoffs. There were a few questions when the Grizzlies were able to slow them down for two games, but Golden State is still putting up triple digit scores in the playoffs. What a “problem” for a “struggling” team to have. When you don’t score 110 points, or when you don’t blow out teams by a large margin, I guess that is when people can start attacking the best team in the NBA. They went into a playoff series and fell a game behind in the series, collected themselves and got right back to what they were doing before. Shooting and scoring. They came out in Game 4 and took 33 three point shots, hitting 42% of them. They took this strategy and carried it through to win the series. The Splash Bros are surrounded by some great role players, however. The offensive of spark that Harrison Barnes and Draymond Green can provide, stretches the floor and gives the Warriors four of five guys that can light up behind the arc. When they start hitting their shots, it’s almost impossible for them to be beat.
15 is a magic number for the Warriors. The Warriors swept the season series vs Houston and did so by winning by an average of 15 points each game. Also, anytime the Warriors have taken a 15 point lead in a game, they are 53-0 this season. 53 times. That’s unreal. Houston must do everything in their power to keep it a close game. The offense that this Golden State team has just doesn’t stay quiet. They can explode at any moment and it is almost as if most teams are just mind-boggled about how they did it and it is just too late. Dub Nation will be looking to ignite the offense behind the three point shooting of Steph Curry. They are 8-0 in the playoffs this year when he makes at least three 3-pointers and their two losses came in the only two games he failed to do so. In the four meetings that they played this year, Steph shot 52% from three point range. Yes, Dwight Howard and Josh Smith played in only two of those games, but James Harden played in all four. He’ll need to do better than his 25ppg against Golden State if he wants his team to have a shot at knocking off the Warriors. Patrick Beverley was there for three of those games and won’t be playing in this series as he is still out with an injury. The fact that he played, was just mentioned to show that it was not like the Warriors beat up on a depleted team.
Many are waiting to see how the Warriors deal with the presence of Dwight Howard in the paint. I don’t think Dwight will have enough of an impact to change the series into Houston’s favor. Golden State just got finished with a series in six games against the Memphis Grizzlies whose frontcourt is led by Marc Gasol and Zach Randolph, a much more daunting task to deal with than this Houston Rockets team. If there is a chance for the Rockets to pull this off, I think it will come with the Rockets playing defense, not the Warriors. The Warriors will embrace a shootout, but Houston needs to lockdown Steph and Klay and just live with mismatches at the other positions. James Harden hasn’t been known, in the least bit, for his defensive play. This will be a huge task for him, whether he is assigned Curry or Thompson.
With the weapons that the Warriors have, this is their series to lose. With home court advantage, the Warriors will have to drop at least one at home, and I just don’t see that happening. The Warriors have the undisputed three point king, but the more important three is the number of letters that will lead Golden State into the Western Conference Finals… MVP.
Warriors in 5.