WCF: P5 | (1) Houston Rockets vs (2) Golden State Warriors | HOU 3-2

[StepBackCrack]

I have this simple plan for GSW to play like this more often:

- KD and Dray should work on getting Klay and Steph in rhythm early by moving the ball and focusing more on D and if one of them (Klay/Steph) gets hot, it's GAME OVER!!! (Dray always does that but KD needs more work on it)

- If Klay/Steph turn out to be kinda off, the team should feed KD to take over inside with his post/midrange game.

There is absolutely no shame for KD to do this because it actually helps the team massively to get in rhythm. The issue is that the haters will come for KD if he sacrifices too much which is why sometimes he feels the need to do too much on offense where moving the ball is a better option most of the times. KD did sacrifice when he came to this team but still needs to do it more often in order to see such hot games from Klay in such big games. There is no need to go full ISO mode from the get go when you have such amazing shooter around you. Today he might not been great scoring the ball but he did a good job keep Steph/Klay in rhythm. Plus he is such a great option when moving the ball doesn't work and then go to him to score from anywhere on the court.

[OkcSinceSGA]

Of course NOW Curry and Klay suddenly talking trash and dancing. Fake, frontrunners.

Umm.. did you pay attention to what you just typed?

So, if they talked trash and danced when being beat too, that would be better in your eyes?

You could call them poor winners or sportsmen, that would actually make sense.

That initial comment has to be one of the dumbest complaints about the Warriors, and there are a LOT of dumb complaints about the Warriors.

Here, let's do this GD: let's put together a list of all the players who dance around while losing. I'll wait.

Were Jordan, Kobe, Bird, KG etc quiet when losing? Hell no. They talked all game long. Win or lose. The fact that the Warriors say and do nothing when down and suddenly become the biggest showboat when winning is lame.

[lebron stopper]

Draymond Green was fantastic in this game. He was making plays EVERYWHERE, even if the box score doesn't show it.

Iso Kevin also stopped touching the ball so much and wasting valuable possessions too. Although that seemed to come naturally: the Rockets switching defense, which was literally perfect the previous two games, was total garbage tonight, especially in the second half, with guys constantly messing up switches and losing guys (especially Curry and Thompson) and letting them get open as a result for free layups and threes. Chris Paul was sorely missed tonight by the Rockets on the defensive end, both for his communication on defense and switching I guess, as well as helping to bait Iso Kevin into iso ball with the obvious height advantage.

If you thought tonight's game was incredible for the Warriors, wait until they face the Cavaliers in the Finals for the fourth straight damn time. The Warriors will re-enact that second half to a tee for 4 games against the likes of Jr. Smith and George DownHill (who got owned by Stephen Curry last year while he was a Jazzman), while Kevin Durant goes off on LeBron James again and makes it personal, to try and force his way further into the GOAT conversation. Would you personally tune in to watch that drubbing?

[Goudelock]

Draymond Green was fantastic in this game. He was making plays EVERYWHERE, even if the box score doesn't show it.

The thing is, the box score does show it. Nobody's ever had that line in playoff history.

lol I should've actually checked the box-score before I typed that. Even then, those stats don't do him justice. He was the most impactful Warrior on the floor by a wide margin, at least in my eyes. Green was everywhere.

[PizzaSteve]

Draymond's mom liked this tweet lol

Read on Twitter

Coming from a Warriors fan, Kerr needs to bench his *** if he starts stagnating the ball. I've been on Kerr pretty much all series. I applaud him tonight.

Durant need to internalize that our winning strategy is to win the war by attrition (e.g. USA ww2) via ball movement to tire opponents not overwhelm them with star power offense (German blitz). I know he wants to be a hero, but that isnt the best play.

[LordCovington33]

Rockets in 6 .... oops

[Warchant]

The difference was Klay and Curry were 3-13 on 3s in the 1st half....2nd half was 11-15 pretty simple

[bfpri]

For all this Durant ISO talk, I didn't see much complaint when the warriors were scoring 115+ every game with Durant in the line up last year. Didn't look stagnant to me. So what changed? Well I would say complacency, the success started to get into their heads and Steve Kerr. That cat ain't like he used to be ever since his surgery, the man has straight up forgot how to coach.

[Sedale Threatt]

Draymond Green was fantastic in this game. He was making plays EVERYWHERE, even if the box score doesn't show it.

The thing is, the box score does show it. Nobody's ever had that line in playoff history.

lol I should've actually checked the box-score before I typed that. Even then, those stats don't do him justice. He was the most impactful Warrior on the floor by a wide margin, at least in my eyes. Green was everywhere.

It's easy to overlook a game like that. I didn't notice until the third quarter or so that he was really piling up the stats. Such a unique player.

[Warchant]

For all this Durant ISO talk, I didn't see much complaint when the warriors were scoring 115+ every game with Durant in the line up last year. Didn't look stagnant to me. So what changed? Well I would say complacency, the success started to get into their heads and Steve Kerr. That cat ain't like he used to be ever since his surgery, the man has straight up forgot how to coach.

Forgot how to coach?

[SenZu]

returning the favor for KD carrying them to another title in 17' and for the first 5 games of this series as defense gets tough that Kerr has to resort to KD isos from the start of the game. Because it is that easy for him to get buckets as KD is an all time great and one of the best scorers the league has seen. 30 pts a game on 45% shooting. But I guess that doesn't matter especially the later.

Sheesh the term carrying is seriously losing it's value. The dude jumped onto a 73-9 team and reaped the benefits of comfortably being above any other team, watching Steph get doubled and feeding off of the trash Cavs defense in the finals. Now that they finally faced adversity KD is showing his OKC colours, back to the 2016 WCF we go. Durant was basically a spectator this game, spectating what happened to him in 2016 in game 6, except this time he's glad he's on Klay and Steph's team. That's 3 games in a row he has completely **** the bed. This team definitely has some front running in it, but no one greater than KD at it. If he's gonna continue to do this they might as well bench him and let Warriors play Warriors basketball. Last year he was playing within the offense, seems like he forgot how to do that when Steph went down, got too accustomed to the ball going through him.

KD shot 14 FTs....I guess he was standing around doing nothing....his game 2nite was Curry over the 1st 5 games minus the FTs...thats why its a team game

Yea you have no idea what you're talking about.

[nuttybuddy009]

Refs changed the tide of this game in the 2nd quarter. The lead should have been much larger. Rockets finished themselves off with unforced turnovers and horrible iso plays.

[Warchant]

Sheesh the term carrying is seriously losing it's value. The dude jumped onto a 73-9 team and reaped the benefits of comfortably being above any other team, watching Steph get doubled and feeding off of the trash Cavs defense in the finals. Now that they finally faced adversity KD is showing his OKC colours, back to the 2016 WCF we go. Durant was basically a spectator this game, spectating what happened to him in 2016 in game 6, except this time he's glad he's on Klay and Steph's team. That's 3 games in a row he has completely **** the bed. This team definitely has some front running in it, but no one greater than KD at it. If he's gonna continue to do this they might as well bench him and let Warriors play Warriors basketball. Last year he was playing within the offense, seems like he forgot how to do that when Steph went down, got too accustomed to the ball going through him.

KD shot 14 FTs....I guess he was standing around doing nothing....his game 2nite was Curry over the 1st 5 games minus the FTs...thats why its a team game

Yea you have no idea what you're talking about.

OK your right I guess

[Naero]

If Durant can't flourish under adversity, then he's going to do little to disabuse the narrative of "coasting to another title" regardless of the results. He has one more opportunity to answer the bells in this upcoming Game 7; and if he underperforms for the third-consecutive must-win game, he'll either perpetuate the narrative, if lucky enough to win, or suffer a nearly irrecoverable blow to his legacy if he isn't bailed out.

Thanks to a combination of Frauden and the Splash Brothers bailing him out mercifully, he's already staved off one of those legacy hits tonight; but even if he finds a similar boon on Monday, he better be a contributor more than a beneficiary. The fact is that people already consider his titles creditless enough due to an unprecedentedly auspicious title-contention situation, so he can't afford to squander the rare opportunities where he's actually given a run for his money to prove his mettle.

Anyway, stoked for Monday. This series is the de-facto NBA Finals, so hopefully it ends memorably with a competitive Game 7.

[Warchant]

If Durant can't flourish under adversity, then he's going to do little to disabuse the narrative of "coasting to another title" regardless of the results. He has one more opportunity to answer the bells in this upcoming Game 7; and if he underperforms for the third-consecutive must-win game, he'll either perpetuate the narrative, if lucky enough to win, or suffer a nearly irrecoverable blow to his legacy if he isn't bailed out.

Thanks to a combination of Frauden and the Splash Brothers bailing him out mercifully, he's already staved off one of those legacy hits tonight; but even if he finds a similar boon on Monday, he better be a contributor more than a beneficiary. The fact is that people already consider his titles creditless enough due to an unprecedentedly auspicious title-contention situation, so he can't afford to squander the rare opportunities where he's actually given a run for his money to prove his mettle.

Anyway, stoked for Monday. This series is the de-facto NBA Finals, so hopefully it ends memorably with a competitive Game 7.

He didnt flourish in '17 finals?

[CoffeeCakez]

If Durant can't flourish under adversity, then he's going to do little to disabuse the narrative of "coasting to another title" regardless of the results. He has one more opportunity to answer the bells in this upcoming Game 7; and if he underperforms for the third-consecutive must-win game, he'll either perpetuate the narrative, if lucky enough to win, or suffer a nearly irrecoverable blow to his legacy if he isn't bailed out.

Thanks to a combination of Frauden and the Splash Brothers bailing him out mercifully, he's already staved off one of those legacy hits tonight; but even if he finds a similar boon on Monday, he better be a contributor more than a beneficiary. The fact is that people already consider his titles creditless enough due to an unprecedentedly auspicious title-contention situation, so he can't afford to squander the rare opportunities where he's actually given a run for his money to prove his mettle.

Anyway, stoked for Monday. This series is the de-facto NBA Finals, so hopefully it ends memorably with a competitive Game 7.

I hope you realize KD is the reason GSW won the 2017 finals..in case anyone forgot:

Watch on YouTube

[inquisitive]

this is what the rockets played for all year. homecourt in a 7th game. time for them to take advantage of it.

[Naero]

If Durant can't flourish under adversity, then he's going to do little to disabuse the narrative of "coasting to another title" regardless of the results. He has one more opportunity to answer the bells in this upcoming Game 7; and if he underperforms for the third-consecutive must-win game, he'll either perpetuate the narrative, if lucky enough to win, or suffer a nearly irrecoverable blow to his legacy if he isn't bailed out.

Thanks to a combination of Frauden and the Splash Brothers bailing him out mercifully, he's already staved off one of those legacy hits tonight; but even if he finds a similar boon on Monday, he better be a contributor more than a beneficiary. The fact is that people already consider his titles creditless enough due to an unprecedentedly auspicious title-contention situation, so he can't afford to squander the rare opportunities where he's actually given a run for his money to prove his mettle.

Anyway, stoked for Monday. This series is the de-facto NBA Finals, so hopefully it ends memorably with a competitive Game 7.

He didnt flourish in '17 finals?

He played monstrously in that series; but because of how lopsidedly his team won that series, it doesn't really exemplify overcoming adversity or tipping the scales. Apart from the one interstice of crunch time in Game 3—a relatively pressureless situation when his team was already up 2-0—what has he accomplished in that series to prove that he can thrive when push comes to shove?

My point is that he's rarely been challenged in his current situation until this series, and he's left far too much to be desired on that plane, to put it innocuously. He hasn't truly been tasked as a high-pressure difference-maker during his GSW stint as most players have his caliber have historically been, which devalues the stock of his titles in relation to legends who've rarely had that luxury during their own championship runs.

Until he proves that he's that vital of a difference-maker on a title-contender, he's doing nothing but reinforcing what we already knew before he donned a Warriors jersey: that he's a great player but not necessarily an impactfully dependable title-leader. How much can that truly catapult his legacy?

[springcadre]

If Durant can't flourish under adversity, then he's going to do little to disabuse the narrative of "coasting to another title" regardless of the results. He has one more opportunity to answer the bells in this upcoming Game 7; and if he underperforms for the third-consecutive must-win game, he'll either perpetuate the narrative, if lucky enough to win, or suffer a nearly irrecoverable blow to his legacy if he isn't bailed out.

Thanks to a combination of Frauden and the Splash Brothers bailing him out mercifully, he's already staved off one of those legacy hits tonight; but even if he finds a similar boon on Monday, he better be a contributor more than a beneficiary. The fact is that people already consider his titles creditless enough due to an unprecedentedly auspicious title-contention situation, so he can't afford to squander the rare opportunities where he's actually given a run for his money to prove his mettle.

Anyway, stoked for Monday. This series is the de-facto NBA Finals, so hopefully it ends memorably with a competitive Game 7.

He didnt flourish in '17 finals?

Lakers fans generally are a little bit slow, be patient with him

Strike: Fan-base baiting. -Dome

[Warchant]

If Durant can't flourish under adversity, then he's going to do little to disabuse the narrative of "coasting to another title" regardless of the results. He has one more opportunity to answer the bells in this upcoming Game 7; and if he underperforms for the third-consecutive must-win game, he'll either perpetuate the narrative, if lucky enough to win, or suffer a nearly irrecoverable blow to his legacy if he isn't bailed out.

Thanks to a combination of Frauden and the Splash Brothers bailing him out mercifully, he's already staved off one of those legacy hits tonight; but even if he finds a similar boon on Monday, he better be a contributor more than a beneficiary. The fact is that people already consider his titles creditless enough due to an unprecedentedly auspicious title-contention situation, so he can't afford to squander the rare opportunities where he's actually given a run for his money to prove his mettle.

Anyway, stoked for Monday. This series is the de-facto NBA Finals, so hopefully it ends memorably with a competitive Game 7.

He didnt flourish in '17 finals?

Lakers fans generally are a little bit slow, be patient with him

LOL...its all good