Salute to the Houston Rockets

[corbe]

Salute to the Houston Rockets

 By Dan FeldmanMay 28, 2018, 5:00 PM EDT   
 
Ever since the Warriors signed Kevin Durant, they’ve been treated as invincible.

Bettors favored them over the field – a rare distinction in any sport. NBA teams tried to time their peaks not to coincide with Golden State’s.

And the way their first year with Durant went, who could blame anyone for assuming the Warriors would repeat? They eased their way to a 67-15 regular season and went a record 16-1 in the postseason, outscoring a opponents by 13.5 points per game in the playoffs. It was arguably the greatest season of all-time, and it only reinforced existing perception.

Durant, Stephen Curry, Draymond Green and Klay Thompson returned in their primes for this season. Golden State became even larger favorite to win the 2018 title before even wrapping up its 2017 championship.

But the Rockets refused to cede anything.

<..snip..>

https://nba.nbcsports.com/2018/05/28/salute-to-the-houston-rockets/

[corbe]

   Regardless of the outcome of tonight's Game, I promise not to get cocky or the more likely outcome, sully @Sanguine

[Sanguine]

   Regardless of the outcome of tonight's Game, I promise not to get cocky or the more likely outcome, sully @Sanguine

In the interest of trying to appear interested, I hope your team wins, @corbe.  Whatever it is they are playing...

[corbe]

It's the 'cornhole' championship tonight, Frank's favorite game.

[goatprairie]

   Regardless of the outcome of tonight's Game, I promise not to get cocky or the more likely outcome, sully @Sanguine

Bad luck with CP3. I know it's little consolation, but that wouldn't be the first playoff or finals series decided or greatly affected by an injury to a key player.
Harden is going to have to have a super game for the Rockets to win. I'd much rather see them win then GS many of whose players  I detest....especially Curry.

[corbe]

   I'm very stressed about this pending Game and unlike their 3 previous losses in this series, I'm not gonna 'light up' on my wonderful Friends here.

[corbe]

- Rockets and Astros are 28-8 when playing on the same day (.777 winning percentage).
- Rockets and Astros are 5-0 when one team is playing a closeout/elimination game since 2017.
  Astros won today 5-1 versus the Yankees.

[corbe]

Ben Golliver‏Verified accountï‚™ @BenGolliver 

The last time the Warriors won a Game 7 on the road in the playoffs was 1948, when the Philadelphia Warriors defeated the St. Louis Bombers 85-46. The NBA was still known as the BAA.

  Can't seem to put my finger on what's missing in that picture.

[goatprairie]

  Can't seem to put my finger on what's missing in that picture.

May the spirit of Jumping Joe Fulks help guide your team in its hours of need. A 25 yr. old  Hakeem Olajuwon clone might help more.

[corbe]

 

[TomSea]

I know its common in basketball, but nonetheless, it was something to see these last two games with Golden State down in the first half, often by 10 or more points and then, like a well-oiled machine, get stronger as the game went on. Of course, I think one of the Rockets' games that they won happened the same way and I know, some of the games in the Rockets previous series happened that way as well.

It was a very even series, going to 7 games, just like the Celtics/Cavaliers. Golden State happened to come out on top.

[musiclady]

I wish the Rockets had won.  I hate the Warriors.

Go Cavs!





(Wishful thinking........ )

[goatprairie]

It didn't help that one of your players Corbe, Ariza,  went 0-11 from three point territory.
This is one of the huge problems with the NBA...the three ball dominates. When a team's players are making them, they do well. When they're not, they can look very bad.
The huge swings in scores is because of the three ball.  Some players are only in the league because they can shoot the three ball. Curry would not be nearly as important  if not for the three ball.
The Rockets GM, Daryl Morey, is a huge proponent of the shot. But in this game the Rockets shot it badly.
Many games now are teams running  up and down the court doing nothing but trying to shoot a three ball. Something has to be done the change this situation of the all powerful three ball.

[TomSea]

0-11, that's going to hurt,  nobody was going to shut down Vilanova, imo... but before that, the Wolverines with Wagner certainly were pressed when Wagner was throwing up some bricks at the net. You're either on or you are not. They of course, went on to win but it did make it tight. But that's what coaches are paid for to figure out.

[musiclady]

It didn't help that one of your players Corbe, Ariza,  went 0-11 from three point territory.
This is one of the huge problems with the NBA...the three ball dominates. When a team's players are making them, they do well. When they're not, they can look very bad.
The huge swings in scores is because of the three ball.  Some players are only in the league because they can shoot the three ball. Curry would not be nearly as important  if not for the three ball.
The Rockets GM, Daryl Morey, is a huge proponent of the shot. But in this game the Rockets shot it badly.
Many games now are teams running  up and down the court doing nothing but trying to shoot a three ball. Something has to be done the change this situation of the all powerful three ball.

It was the Celtics’ desperate reliance on the three ball that allowed the Cavs to win game 7.

They might have won if they hadn’t kept trying and missing them.

I , however, am very glad they did!

[goatprairie]

It was the Celtics’ desperate reliance on the three ball that allowed the Cavs to win game 7.

They might have won if they hadn’t kept trying and missing them.

I , however, am very glad they did!

I will add I like the three ball shot. But something has to be done to encourage teams to do more inside the line. Like giving players an extra foul shot after a certain number of team fouls. Say after ten team fouls a player fouled shooting inside the line gets three foul shots instead of two. Or the option of taking the ball out of bounds if the player makes the basket until the last two minutes of the game.  And any player on the floor can take the foul shots. That would prevent teams from automatically fouling lousy free throw shooters.
I'm tired of watching three ball shooting contests.  It's getting ridiculous.

[corbe]

   I am slowly waking up from my 36 hour stupor since the Rockets lost.
   It's how I deal with adversity, little blue pills and a Loving White Woman.

[goatprairie]

   I am slowly waking up from my 36 hour stupor since the Rockets lost.
   It's how I deal with adversity, little blue pills and a Loving White Woman.

I was listening to a basketball program yesterday with ex NBA player Eddie Johnson on Sirius Radio. He was appalled at D'Antoni's failure to adjust during the game. He thought DA should have attacked the basket more in the second half because it worked well in the first. Obviously, not having Paul hurt enormously in my opinion. He's like a coach on the floor.

[corbe]

   I want to believe Paul's absence was the key to GSW winning, but I'm probably just looking for a scapegoat to somehow justify my overly optimistic expectations of James Harden. 
   
   * I couldn't even tell you the final score and have stayed away from anything NBA, till the Dr's declare I have fully recovered (late August when pre season starts).

[goatprairie]

I'd like to console you in your sorrow  . It's one thing to outright lose because you were outclassed, but the Rockets did have a good chance.   And losing a player of CP3's stature didn't help...it might have been the key reason.
I think back to my own misery when the Badgers lost the title NCAA championship game to Duke three years ago. They had a nine point lead with thirteen minutes to go in the game, a one point lead with four minutes to go, and were behind by one point and had the ball with three minutes left. 
They proceeded to lose their heads and play un-Badger like  bb for the next three minutes and lost by five.
The previous year they missed playing in the title game when a Kentucky player hit a three pointer (almost standing out of bounds) with about ten seconds left in the game to put them ahead by one point.
A Badger player still had a very good,  makable shot at the buzzer that went in and out. If they had gone to the title game, they stood a 50-50 chance of beating Connecticut.
So that's two years in a row the Badgers came within an eyelash of being national champs and came out 0-2. That possibility for a Wisconsin team does not come around very often. Their last NCAA championship was in 1941.
I taped the title game loss to Duke, but haven't been able to watch it since the misery of losing depressed me for quite some time.
I wish you could say you get over your team losing an important game, but it's not easy.

[goatprairie]

I'll also add the Rockets maybe could have done better with my ex-Badger Sam Dekker rather than Ryan Anderson. Dekker's game is taking it to the basket something the Rockets should have done more of in the second half rather hoisting up bad three ball and bad three ball.  Dekker can probably play better defense than Anderson as well. 
He was included in the deal that got CP3, but rarely played for the Clippers after showing much promise with the Rockets.

[corbe]

   I remember Dekker from last year, Valuable piece of the Machine @goatprairie and Yes Ryan proved to be a total BUST in the last third of the season, the $22M Man that suxs the life out of cap space, he's gone this summer.