I think Brad Stevens may have vaulted to the top of the list of nba coaches.
Steph Curry proves he is game to the challenge. But if I am Houston, I keep pounding him. You just need one game to shift home court back.
I think if any one player aside from Durant erupts, it is almost impossible for the Warriors to get beat. Durant is a gimme for a decent amount of points.
phaedrus posted:Durant is a gimme for a decent amount of points.
That's because Houston has NOBODY to even have a chance to defend him. Houston pretty much has to pray that Durant has an off night.
Here's the issue for Houston. There is NO WAY, Klay, Draymond, & Curry all have "off nights" including Durant.
If you remember from game #1, Nick Young popped (3) Three's while Curry was getting a blow. Curry scored less than 20 in each of the first 2 games.
BTW....Iggy is doubtful for game #4 - before anyone poo-poo's this his defense has been excellent & he causes lots of missed shots from the Rockets.
As bad as the W's beat them yesterday, the series ain't over yet. Warriors need to keep the pressure on by winning game #4 & keep home court advantage. Otherwise it would be a brand new series if Houston can steal game #4
There are a select few guys that have ever played that could even slow down Durant under the newer rules. The Bad Boy Pistons, the mid-80s Celtics, the mid-90s Knicks, etc. would have pounded the crap out of him, hand-checked him constantly on the ball, and would try to wear him down physically. That doesn't happen now (unless the NBA assigns certain officials to the games). But if they did start to allow hand-checking then Harden and Paul would be more affected than Durant.
Also, one of the underappreciated outcomes of the Rockets targeting Curry on switches possession after possession is that Durant really doesn't have to expend that much energy on defense. Ideally, you'd want to make him work on that end as much as possible.
The other thing that's likely to happen in one of the upcoming games is that Klay Thompson is likely to go nuclear. As good as Curry and Durant are (top 5 shooters all time), I would argue there is nothing like the energy you can feel even watching on TV when Thompson goes off.
I guess #LeBronto ain't going down easy.
Game 5 will be a very big deal - I'm hopeful the Celtics win, I really don't want to see Cleveland in the finals again
Lol!!! Drayage Green just front rimmed an open dunk... 
Couldn't have happened to a nicer guy...
Warriors on the verge of a massive, massive choke job right now.
Rockets doing this with almost nothing from Harden in second half
Wow... Houston just stole game 4 in Oracle. We have a series...
Curry chokes a layup
Green chokes a free throw
Thompson with an awful shot at the end.
Kerr had two timeouts and let that happen. Kerr choked.
I'm an unbiased observer, that was a disgraceful 4th quarter from a number of Warriors. Kerr at the top of the list.
Music City posted:Wow... Houston just stole game 4 in Oracle. We have a series...
The Warriors choked. Houston took advantage. A 12 point fourth quarter.
Warriors up 82-70. Lose 95-92.
And Curry had an awfully good look at the buzzer...
Music City posted:And Curry had an awfully good look at the buzzer...
I don't he got it off in time. I would bet they'd have waved it off if it had gone in.
The offensive set on the Thompson shot before was unbelievably awful. When you see Klay is stuck with 4 seconds left and has nowhere to go, call timeout and set something up. What was he saving the timeout for? You have Kevin Fricken Durant. Call an inbound play with 4 seconds left and your WORST option is to lob the ball to Durant and let him shoot a contested shot. Durant has a better chance to make a highly contested shot than anyone in NBA history (except for maybe Kareem's sky hook).
If they shade toward Durant, then someone else is open. If that means Draymond has to hit a shot, so be it.
The ECF has purely sucked...
Hey Boston won. I'm happy. Anybody but Cleveland in the final
Boston apparently canât beat anyone on the road except Philly.
Well, when you lollygag through the season, maybe youâre not as sharp or as hungry. Green kicks the ball away and the Rockets take down the Ws... 3-2 and back to Oracle...
Golden state with another awful ending. Quin cook taking a 3 and setting up Green for a turnover on the last 2 possessions?
Did Steve Kerr lose his mind? He does remember he has Durant right?
Green has sucked... and itâs enjoyable to watch. I really doubt Houston wins in Oracle, but Iâd love for it to happen...
Chris Paul out for Game 6. They might as well just give both teams a few more days off to get healthy and then play Game 7 in Houston on Monday. I'd much rather see Klay, Igoudala, and Chris Paul rest and maybe have a chance to play at closer to normal than watch a war of attrition.
I've said all along, the only way the W's lose is injuries.
Well, Losing A.I. for 2 games definitely hurt because he's the guy that calms everyone down & eliminates turnovers. W's had 18 TO's last night - if they cut that in HALF, they probably win by 10.
If Houston wins game 6 in Oaktown, they'll have earned the series win.
Who thinks James Harden will continue going 0-20 on 3's??
Warriors getting away with everything in the 3rd... now they shots are falling.
That third Q was atrocious officiating. Houston was all out of sorts, Warriors took advantage.
But this is the reason why people stopped watching the NBA- Houston is all over the Warriors, and they canât buy a call while GS goes on a massive run. Jeez... itâs almost like they want a GS/Cleveland finals or something... 
I hate the Finals... no one to root for.
Music City posted:That third Q was atrocious officiating. Houston was all out of sorts, Warriors took advantage.
But this is the reason why people stopped watching the NBA- Houston is all over the Warriors, and they canât buy a call while GS goes on a massive run. Jeez... itâs almost like they want a GS/Cleveland finals or something...
I agree there were some missed calls, but the officials didn't make the Houston miss 27 3 pointers in a row or go 1 for their last 30. The officials didn't make Trevor Ariza go 0-12 on many wide open shots. Klay Thompson picked up 3 fouls in the first 4 minutes of the game. If the Rockets win, we probably hear about how the officials took the Warriors out of the game because of Thompson's 2 foul calls in the first 54 seconds.
Other than Capella, the Rockets were 27-80 from the field.
James Harden was 2-13 from 3.
James Harden was 5 for 9 from 3 in Game 1.
In Games 2-6, he was 14-69.
And LeBron's not going to be the MVP?
These games come down to a momentum swing- the 3rd was it. The officials did not award Harden 3 FTs 2 separate times. They allowed several high contact plays in the lane- no calls. They gave Bell a complete flop in the same sequence.
Yes, they missed 27 3 in a row, but the game of basketball is emotional and when youâre getting avalanched with total **** calls while GS is finding the hoop, it knocks you off balance. It contributed to the 27 misses, there is no question.
Music City posted:I hate the Finals... no one to root for.
We've got your favorite player Draymond Green & Lebronto!
You're all set!!
#puke
Green is an insufferable, dirty cheater and now that heâs incapable of making even the most wide open shot, merely a one way player. Heâs no All Star, and despite the prevailing line of bull**** in describing the Warriors, nothing remotely close to a HOF player.
LeBron is a flopping, entitled, spoiled brat racist without any genuine humility.
They can both go fu*k themselves... but then again Iâm biased.
Take out the flopping and he is on the fast track to the presidency.
If the previous 8 years were any indication, sure...
LeBron is a racist without any humility? Sounds a lot like our idiot POTUS. Yeah I said it.
Houston schit the bed just like Boston schit the bed. When the shots arenât falling you need to adjust and go to Plan B. Houston and Boston did not and thatâs not The Cavs or Warriors fault.
By the way Iâm watching as I expect the league wants LeBronto to win one more for Cleveland. If not, heâll take it to Game 7 just to make it close.
Golden State is softer than toilet paper including that fake thug Green but the fans love the run and gun and they do it better than anyone else.
Roseanne Barr hates the NBA Finals as well
Tschmack posted:LeBron is a racist without any humility? Sounds a lot like our idiot POTUS. Yeah I said it.
Lol... thatâs just because youâre too stupid to notice. Tough to notice things with your head firmly planted in your ass...
Well that escalated quickly. I must have struck a nerve. Donât watch the Finals. I donât give a ****. But save the other commentary.
When you bring up politics in a sports thread, you get what you get. The mods should've deleted your political stunt.
come on, Mods. Please be consistent.
Why do you and others continue to take digs at the president whom you don't like? Many here didn't care for the POTUS the previous 8 years, but we didn't interject sophomoric crap into sports threads.
Please keep politics out of the sports' threads at TimesFour. No one cares about others' political leanings.
Back to the topic of the thread: I didn't want to see Cleveland or GS in the finals, but now that they are here - I do think the Cavs will win in 6 as they are the more physical team and it seems the refs are letting them play physical this year.