And then there were 4. NBA playoffs are fun, but it's probably the most predictable of the 3 major leagues. NFL is all about parity - except for the Patriots in the AFC. You can't usually guess who is going to be a true contender from year to year. MLB is fairly predictable with respect to which teams can and will be good, but once in the playoffs, pitching is going to decide everything and you are at the mercy of those starting pitchers on both sides. That introduces enough variance. NBA with it's 7-game playoff series after a 82-game regular season is the most consistent and predictable. We had penciled in the Warriors and the Cavs to make the conference finals on day 1 - actually even the NBA finals. We expected the Celtics to get to the final-4, but then downgraded them when Gordon Hayward got hurt, upgraded them when the Kyrie-led Celtics kept winning, and downgraded them again when Kyrie got hurt. Celtics made it this far anyways. The Rockets have looked ready for this round since the beginning of the season once they showed us Paul and Harden can ball together and Kwahi decided he is not interested in balling at all this season for the Spurs.
Thus we got our conference finalists after a fun season and a solid playoff through the first 2 rounds. No real upsets or shockers so far. I guess the Cavs technically upset the Raptors, but who really thought the Raptors were going to beat LeBron James. I thought the Raptors will drag this to 6 or 7, but LeBron is so far into their collective heads that they got swept. Raptors have a real problem if Skip Bayless says they will get swept in his usual, stupid fashion to maximize shock-value and the Raps go out and make Skip Bayless right. He rarely is. To be fair to the Raptors, LeBron hit some crazy game-winners and became more confident and unstoppable as the series went along. Nonetheless they had to change something after this debacle. The easiest move was to fire the coach and they did that. They might have fired the eventual Coach of the Year, but Dwane Casey had to go. He had a good 7-year run in the regular season, but the playoff success eluded him. Hope he gets another shot somewhere else. The Celtics will start against the Cavs tomorrow in Boston instead of the Raps hosting the ECF game 1. Celts dispatched the talented and inexperienced 76'ers in 5 games.
The way LeBron is playing right now, it's just impossible to stop him or pick against him. I expect the Celts and President Stevens to make this a long, interesting series, but the King survives in 6 games for a date in his 8th straight NBA finals. The Cavs are not that good a team, but LeBron makes them great! After 2 rounds of playoffs and multiple lineups, they have found a combination that plays well and are actually very effective the last few games. Only thing better than LeBron is LeBron with some help and he might have that in Korver, Love, and others. Celtics better show up with all their focus and energy if they want to stop the King. The story of this season though has been the Rockets-V-Warriors that we have all been waiting for, We finally get it in the WCF. The Rockets have the better record and home court. They are 50-5 when CP3, Harden, and Clint Capela have all played. That's just amazing! This coupled with the fact that the Dubs have looked less than formidable during stretches of this season makes this a fascinating series. The Warriors do not look vulnerable anymore after the first 2 rounds of the playoffs, but this is expected to be a challenging series anyways.
This may be the toughest series yet for the Dubs during the Kerr era and the world will be watching. They did lose to the Cavs in the Finals in 2016 and had a brutal 7-game WCF against Durant and the OKC Thunder. They would have lost that game 7 without a magical 41-point performance from Klay. With all that said, they did go into both those series as the prohibitive favorites whereas this Rockets series has much more intrigue going in with a confident Rockets team thinking they can beat the Dubs. The conventional wisdom even during the last couple of years was that the Rockets have a punchers chance because they jack up so many threes and a hot day at the office for them can beat anybody. That combined with Capela's development and defense to go with CP3's hot playoff run the last 2 weeks would be my concern if I were a Dubs fan. Also, the Warriors don't have the 3-point depth of yesteryears. They have the big-3 and their top of the World marksmanship from distance, but the depth is missing. Barbosa, Speights, and Clark are not walking through that door anymore. They have quality over quantity and believe it or not, their depth is their 5 centers, not wing shooters.
Contrary to what most fans probably assume, Rockets are not a fast-paced team that Coach D'Antoni is known for and the Warriors are not a three-point shooting juggernaut. The Rockets are actually one of the slowest teams in the league, but they do jack up more threes than anybody else with more than 50% of their shots coming from distance. The Dubs on the other hand have dropped down the three point attempts list this season, but like to play fast-paced. They actually shoot just 2 less 3s per game this season compared to 2015, but the Rockets shoot 12 more 3s per game now than they did in 2015! Thats amazing and has become a trend across the league pushing the Dubs from the most 3-point attempting team in 2015 to 16th most in the league this year. All of this makes this series a very interesting clash of styles given the Warriors' ball-movement offense and the Rockets' isolation based offense. Game 1 is going to be crucial in this one more than your average series. I agree with Chuck that it's important for the Rockets to win and gain more confidence. Dubs can afford to lose on the road, but us fans will learn a lot about this series on Monday either way.
Whats the net-net of it all? I expect a focussed, sharp, playoff-Warriors to show up on both ends of the floor. Thats still the best show and the most formidable force in the NBA. Their defense survives and expect them to take this series in 6.
Thus we got our conference finalists after a fun season and a solid playoff through the first 2 rounds. No real upsets or shockers so far. I guess the Cavs technically upset the Raptors, but who really thought the Raptors were going to beat LeBron James. I thought the Raptors will drag this to 6 or 7, but LeBron is so far into their collective heads that they got swept. Raptors have a real problem if Skip Bayless says they will get swept in his usual, stupid fashion to maximize shock-value and the Raps go out and make Skip Bayless right. He rarely is. To be fair to the Raptors, LeBron hit some crazy game-winners and became more confident and unstoppable as the series went along. Nonetheless they had to change something after this debacle. The easiest move was to fire the coach and they did that. They might have fired the eventual Coach of the Year, but Dwane Casey had to go. He had a good 7-year run in the regular season, but the playoff success eluded him. Hope he gets another shot somewhere else. The Celtics will start against the Cavs tomorrow in Boston instead of the Raps hosting the ECF game 1. Celts dispatched the talented and inexperienced 76'ers in 5 games.
The way LeBron is playing right now, it's just impossible to stop him or pick against him. I expect the Celts and President Stevens to make this a long, interesting series, but the King survives in 6 games for a date in his 8th straight NBA finals. The Cavs are not that good a team, but LeBron makes them great! After 2 rounds of playoffs and multiple lineups, they have found a combination that plays well and are actually very effective the last few games. Only thing better than LeBron is LeBron with some help and he might have that in Korver, Love, and others. Celtics better show up with all their focus and energy if they want to stop the King. The story of this season though has been the Rockets-V-Warriors that we have all been waiting for, We finally get it in the WCF. The Rockets have the better record and home court. They are 50-5 when CP3, Harden, and Clint Capela have all played. That's just amazing! This coupled with the fact that the Dubs have looked less than formidable during stretches of this season makes this a fascinating series. The Warriors do not look vulnerable anymore after the first 2 rounds of the playoffs, but this is expected to be a challenging series anyways.
This may be the toughest series yet for the Dubs during the Kerr era and the world will be watching. They did lose to the Cavs in the Finals in 2016 and had a brutal 7-game WCF against Durant and the OKC Thunder. They would have lost that game 7 without a magical 41-point performance from Klay. With all that said, they did go into both those series as the prohibitive favorites whereas this Rockets series has much more intrigue going in with a confident Rockets team thinking they can beat the Dubs. The conventional wisdom even during the last couple of years was that the Rockets have a punchers chance because they jack up so many threes and a hot day at the office for them can beat anybody. That combined with Capela's development and defense to go with CP3's hot playoff run the last 2 weeks would be my concern if I were a Dubs fan. Also, the Warriors don't have the 3-point depth of yesteryears. They have the big-3 and their top of the World marksmanship from distance, but the depth is missing. Barbosa, Speights, and Clark are not walking through that door anymore. They have quality over quantity and believe it or not, their depth is their 5 centers, not wing shooters.
Contrary to what most fans probably assume, Rockets are not a fast-paced team that Coach D'Antoni is known for and the Warriors are not a three-point shooting juggernaut. The Rockets are actually one of the slowest teams in the league, but they do jack up more threes than anybody else with more than 50% of their shots coming from distance. The Dubs on the other hand have dropped down the three point attempts list this season, but like to play fast-paced. They actually shoot just 2 less 3s per game this season compared to 2015, but the Rockets shoot 12 more 3s per game now than they did in 2015! Thats amazing and has become a trend across the league pushing the Dubs from the most 3-point attempting team in 2015 to 16th most in the league this year. All of this makes this series a very interesting clash of styles given the Warriors' ball-movement offense and the Rockets' isolation based offense. Game 1 is going to be crucial in this one more than your average series. I agree with Chuck that it's important for the Rockets to win and gain more confidence. Dubs can afford to lose on the road, but us fans will learn a lot about this series on Monday either way.
Whats the net-net of it all? I expect a focussed, sharp, playoff-Warriors to show up on both ends of the floor. Thats still the best show and the most formidable force in the NBA. Their defense survives and expect them to take this series in 6.
