WCSF | (1) Golden State Warriors vs (4) Houston Rockets, Part Two (Series tied 2-2)

[LeonGenesis]

What happened to harden in game 2? How long was he off injured and what’s it got to do with his vision? Eye poke?

He shoots better with his eyes poke hahaha. Maybe GS should poke more of his eyes if Houston wants a chance to win. Besides that, he's not very good...same ole flopping and hoping to get freebies throw.

[Ben Simmons]

Harden finished 9-19 from the field, and I heard he missed his first 3 shots....
I wonder how Harden explains this in relation to his blindness

[xdrta+]

Is there a 2 minute report for game 2?
I'm just curious about the foul they called on Iggy when him and Tucker went for that long pass.

The criteria for a last two minute report is, "L2M will be done for any game in which one team’s lead over the other is three points or fewer at any point during the last two minutes of the fourth quarter or overtime." I don't believe game 2 met this standard.

[Prizah]

Is there a 2 minute report for game 2?
I'm just curious about the foul they called on Iggy when him and Tucker went for that long pass.

The criteria for a last two minute report is, "L2M will be done for any game in which one team’s lead over the other is three points or fewer at any point during the last two minutes of the fourth quarter or overtime." I don't believe game 2 met this standard.

Thank you sir!

[KingDavid]

They say it isn't a series until the away team wins. Time for Houston to defend home court.

-probably magic Johnson.

[LeonGenesis]

I guarantee Houston win on Saturday. I"m 0-2 so far...gotta win once hahaha.

Two of my most hated players...CP3 and Floppy Harden. Hey..they gotta win one game

[SeniorWalker]

Please sweep these pathetic flopping doo doo stains. Two of the worst in NBA history on the same team, I'd be crushed as a diehard fan if they ever had a chance at the championship due to their standardized bullsh**.

Dont play games with them. They're on the ground. Crush their necks, dubs. Do it.

(Whoo that's kinda graphic)

[Mamba Mentality]

Read on Twitter

[floppymoose]

What is so cheeky about his post? I don't get it.

You’re a great poster ken. Don’t ket the GB get you down. You are getting a taste of what its been like to be a GSW fan here.

[Yank3525]

The Rockets system is based on lots of threes and shot at the rim, with minimal ball movement. Their strategy is to limit turnovers by limiting passing. That system has yet to prove workable against playoff defenses.

https://stats.nba.com/teams/isolation/?sort=POSS_PCT&dir=1

Houston iso’s More than anybody else in the playoffs.

So if they fail again (some say when they fail) will they get rid of MDA and try another style?

MDA doesn’t like to play this way. This is all Morey. As long as he is the GM, the Rockets will play by the numbers.

[ken6199]

Fun read on depth perception with red color interference.

Color does impact our depth perception even though it is a relatively weak indicator and is not necessarily the overriding depth cue for complex, realistic objects. Some more real life examples include pilots having to take color tests due to depth perception being incredibly important.

I believe Ryan anderson's struggles at home are a result of his depth perception being skewed as he perceives the basket is closer than it really is. Depth cues like the red padding behind the basket and lines distort his depth perception and thus affect his ability to accurately gauge the distance between himself and the basket.

https://www.reddit.com/r/nba/comments/6c62u8/oc_ryan_andersons_shooting_struggles_at_home_a/

Don’t let the GB get you down. You are getting a taste of what its been like to be a GSW fan here.

Well, they say what doesn't break you makes you stronger.

Spoiler:

I kid, it did break me for a second.

[Vladimir777]

I’ve always felt Iggy was a very underrated part of the Warriors dynasty’s success. Glad to see him getting some love on here. I felt he richly deserved that 2015 FMVP. As I think I saw someone post elsewhere, it wasn’t the raw stats or numbers. It was that he changed the moment of the series. I watched that series, and he was definitely the most pivotal figure in the narrative of the series on the Warriors’ side.

I’ve always felt that Draymond (much as he annoys me) and Iggy turn up their game a lot in the POs, leading to a lot of GSW’s success. Of course, Steph and Klay are integral to the team as a whole, and they’ve helped build up the Warriors from the ground up over the long haul of the regular seasons of the past few years. But come playoff time, Steph and especially Klay can disappear in games. I don’t care what stats say, but I see it in the games played.

As others have said, KD has been a sort of “insurance policy” since he came onto the team at the end of 2016. He has sometimes affected the beautiful flow of the old Warriors, and possibly dampened some of what they were once capable of, but he also guarantees that they’ll perform well in the playoffs. And, sure enough, they’ve won every single season since he came to the team, and I don’t see that changing this year. He feels like he doesn’t really belong on the team aesthetically, but he also guarantees they win championships, so that makes him invaluable even if his iso game is counter to the old Warriors’ style. For this reason, I feel that he’s the most vital part of the Warriors’ last two championships, and deserves those FMVPs just like Iggy deserved his.

[whatisacenter]

https://theundefeated.com/features/james-harden-houston-rockets-disrespects-the-unwritten-rules-of-basketball/

This has been my problem with Harden and his game. The guy is incredibly talented but makes a joke of the game with his antics.

“If you have that dude who’s not taking legit shots, waiting to hook your arm and go up and then call a foul, he might get away with one,” Santelli said. “But if you do that all the time, you better be the toughest dude in the gym. You better be ready to muscle up, because I don’t want to fight you, but it might go there.”

Hoop World hates it when that dude, who’s already a tough cover, starts calling ticky-tack touches every time you come near him. Or when she misses a clean look on game point, then calls foul after the ball clanks off the rim. Sometimes it really is a foul. But if you call too many, then nobody wants to give you any, and it sucks the fun out of a joyful experience

[Bobbymcgee]

Feel bad for Harden. Already down 2-0 to the Warriors and he can't even see. Ouch.

[TaylorTRoom]

The Rockets system is based on lots of threes and shot at the rim, with minimal ball movement. Their strategy is to limit turnovers by limiting passing. That system has yet to prove workable against playoff defenses.

https://stats.nba.com/teams/isolation/?sort=POSS_PCT&dir=1

Houston iso’s More than anybody else in the playoffs.

So if they fail again (some say when they fail) will they get rid of MDA and try another style?

MDA doesn’t like to play this way. This is all Morey. As long as he is the GM, the Rockets will play by the numbers.

This is why I thought the CP3 injury hurt the Rockets so much. It doesn’t matter how MDA wants to play or Morey’s commitment to metrics- after 0-10 from three, CP3 would have said, “screw this” and started driving the rim andshooting mid range. He wouldn’t have allowed a ridiculous 0-27.

[og15]

When your own management is tweeting out reports from last years finals its basically giving your own players an escape route for a loss. “Oh we could of won man but you know those damn refs wont call nothing for me man ya.”
Focus on what you can control and thats on the court playing ball (defense, rebounds, switches etc)

Who said they weren't focused? They didn't look unfocused. Also does focusing just make them automatically destined to beat GS? What if GS is focused too, should Houston win because they are focused?

You think the players are saying "oh we won't focus because we can use the refs as an excuse if we lose". Just sounds like the convenient type comments that come based on end result. It is pure conjecture type analysis that anyone can just basically make up to match the end result. If they won the game, one could make up another conjecture type analysis like this about the Warriors, "oh if the Warriors were not so worried about reacting the the Rockets complaints and focused they wouldn't have lost".

You’re being cheeky thats great.

Listen one teams management is running a campaign on the unfairness of ref calls about LAST years finals while the players are on the court are doing the same thing. You got your leader bumping refs getting ejected, sarcastically celebrating a foul call. They’re playing 2 fields right now while the warriors are locked in on one goal. You spread out your energy on things you cannot control you’re bound to lose. Don’t overcomplicate this its simple

If you said something like "I think all the extra curriculars with the management might have prevented the Rockets from fully focusing and it affected their play." You are theorizing, one can disagree, but that's fine. It's conjecture though, it's not fact, not even a soft fact where you have some weak support, it's just a pure jump and therefore shouldn't be presented or argued for as if it is, but it is an opinion that can be stated.

That differs from saying that the reason, that is, fact, undeniable that they lost is because they were not focused due to what the management did. You can't make that claim as a fact based on the information we have. Now, if one of their players came out and said that the actions prevented them from focusing, or that they had trouble focusing, etc then now you have more complete information to say this. With what we do have, to claim this as the simple reality would be to act like one has insight into the minds and thoughts of the players individually and as a group. This based simply on losing a close game on the road to a team the majority already concluded is better.

There's nothing cheeky there, I'm just questioning stating something like that as a fact and even more, as a "simple" fact. A simple fact is that they didn't protect the ball well and they gave up to many offensive rebounds. Why that happened, lack of size, not boxing out, GS attacking the offensive glass, GS staying home on shooters and forcing bad passes over defenders after the Rockets drove, etc.

[KHRICH]

Cant anyone explain the huge gap between games for this season is the next game in Australia?

[michaelm]

Anyone who appreciate the basketball as a sport like their system better, including myself, and I am sure most of the other Rockets fans. We work with what we have, we have no control of what approach our GM and organization choose on/off the court. Just a bunch of die hard fans rooting for our team to win a hell difficult series 4 out of the past 5 years.

Yes, I absolutely credit Houston for just getting on with things and trying to build the best team they can, and trying as hard as they can to beat GSW and win a title, which they nearly did last year; I think they would have beaten the Cavs if they had made the finals.

[xdrta+]

I’ve always felt Iggy was a very underrated part of the Warriors dynasty’s success. Glad to see him getting some love on here. I felt he richly deserved that 2015 FMVP. As I think I saw someone post elsewhere, it wasn’t the raw stats or numbers. It was that he changed the moment of the series. I watched that series, and he was definitely the most pivotal figure in the narrative of the series on the Warriors’ side.

Speaking of Iguodala, here's a stat you probably never thought you'd see, Iguodala leads the NBA with 19 dunks in these playoffs.

[ken6199]

https://theundefeated.com/features/james-harden-houston-rockets-disrespects-the-unwritten-rules-of-basketball/

This has been my problem with Harden and his game. The guy is incredibly talented but makes a joke of the game with his antics.

“If you have that dude who’s not taking legit shots, waiting to hook your arm and go up and then call a foul, he might get away with one,” Santelli said. “But if you do that all the time, you better be the toughest dude in the gym. You better be ready to muscle up, because I don’t want to fight you, but it might go there.”

Hoop World hates it when that dude, who’s already a tough cover, starts calling ticky-tack touches every time you come near him. Or when she misses a clean look on game point, then calls foul after the ball clanks off the rim. Sometimes it really is a foul. But if you call too many, then nobody wants to give you any, and it sucks the fun out of a joyful experience

I read the article twice to make sure I get the true intention on the author which I think is genuine and harmless. I am not here to argue whether Harden should be criticized for the way he plays, he certainly should, I am here to say using training ground or street basketball example is kind like swapping concepts.

Say we have Curry Klay and Draymond play a pick up game, nobody is going to give a crap about ball movement, and we cannot say ahh they don't play the game the right way. Or if Draymond kicks Adams, pokes Lebron then James in a street ball game, 100% unintentional, people still gonna beat the crap out of him (I know I would). That's why NBA is a professional league with governing body, referee committee, replay center, hefty fines, media etc that training ground doesn't have, and the game itself is tied up with billions and billions of dollars which means the ultimate goal is to win at any cost. So to use training ground examples to reflect Harden not playing the game the right way is certainly not appropriate to begin with.

Do the players have a responsibility to keep the game clean and make it more enjoyable? They do, and that's called sportsmanship. Who takes the ultimate responsibility to evolve the game and make it compete with other major sports? The governing body, and that's called ruling. That's why we keep seeing rule changes, like hand checks, 5 sec, shooting motion, gathering steps, cylinder definition, with surely more to come. If the league thinks something is damaging the game, they will respond.

Based on that, I think though it's perfectly fine to say I like this and I like that, it's not for us to judge this is the right way to do it, or that is the wrong way to do it. Let alone cynical wishes like I hope xxx never have success in his career. Sports writers say stuff half as passion half as a job that they get paid to do, so we need to have our own interpretations when comprehending their work.

Here is a bad example from Broussard. So Houston symbolize everything wrong with basketball? Hasn't their GM been trying or even gambling their future just to get a shot at GS to entertain the fans too? Or did he take that "fine we ain't gonna beat them, let's just tank and wait a few years it's not worth trying" attitude? Who is that one guy to stand up to the Warriors year after year so that they don't have utter domination in the Western Conference unlike LeBron who gets a free trip to the finals? The guy is a sports analyst, a professional, due has been having a MVP vote for the past 20 years, if we have a standard on Harden what he should or should not do, then the same goes to Broussard.

Watch on YouTube

And here is a great example from Lowe which I think is 10x worth reading and more insightful. Facts, deep analysis, yet not a single phrase like "I think he should", "I think he shouldnt", "this is seriously wrong".

Read on Twitter

http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/page/zachlowe26646342/how-philosophical-differences-define-rockets-warriors-series

The Warriors bend the rules, too. They just do it in ways that everyone has agreed upon as semi-acceptable parts of basketball culture. They sometimes set moving screens to free shooters. They grab and hold on defense when they can get away with it. And boy howdy, do they complain to referees.

The ways that Houston bends the rules are new and unfamiliar. The Rockets have argued the league's most experienced officials, the ones who comprise most playoff crews, are least likely to award Harden three-shot fouls.

Here's a thing the NBA has found after years of parsing data about officiating: Even though they earn heaps of free throws, most ball-dominant superstars do not get close to every call they deserve under the letter of the law. Most have a sizable ratio between incorrect non-calls -- those they deserve but don't get -- and undeserved fouls drawn. (Cut to Shaq nodding.)

For better or worse, Golden State's egalitarian style mitigates this sort of extreme foul ratio issue with Durant and Curry. (For the record, Kerr has coached with more urgency in these playoffs. He started the Death Lineup from the jump against Houston, and has been more willing to let Curry and especially Durant cook.) Kerr is of course correct that referees miss calls on both in every game, especially on drives. It's just that neither has the ball as much as Harden.

If the Rockets are victims, they are at least somewhat victims of their own math-based modernity -- of their unique dependence on Harden, and his step-back 3.