2019 Playoffs: (1) Golden State vs. (4) Houston

After giving two games away at home, the Warriors finally ended the Clippers' season last night, and will match up with Houston for the fourth time in five years.

I've been trying to talk myself into Houston winning this series. After all, Golden State looked shaky versus an overachieving Clippers team, while the Rockets more or less dominated a hyped Jazz squad. DeMarcus Cousins is out, rendering Golden State's bench one of the worst in the league. Houston took them to seven games last year, and while there has been some roster turnover and they don't have home court this time, they seem to have returned to form.

Houston definitely has a chance, but with a Warriors team this talented, you need to be good and lucky. When the Warriors actually want to win, they are nearly impossible to beat. Houston must shoot extremely well in four out of these seven games. They could do it, but it's not terribly likely. Warriors in six.

Warriors in 6 as well. They know they're vulnerable when they don't try on defense like in the majority of the Clippers series - that won't happen again for some time.

I'll take the Rockets in 6, but I'm not overly confident in the pick. They may have blown their best shot to get by the Warriors last year, when they refused to go away from the three-pointer and missed more than 20 of them in a row. I'll stick with the bold prediction, though.

Wishful thinking says rockets take it in a close 7 games

I dont know about you guys but officiating should have been better. Harden despite his flops is right. The refs stole the game from Rockets.

It's always frustrating to see the officials mess up, but even taking that into consideration, the final margin was four points. James Harden shot 9/28, and the Rockets were 14/47 from downtown (31/74 overall). It was still a winnable game despite the questionable officiating, with other factors in play in the loss.

Harden is 27 for 73 in his last 3 games.

It's not winning basketball, especially in the playoffs. The terrible shot selection not only creates a miss (a turnover when the other team gets the rebound), but also causes long rebounds which results in fastbreaks and easy scores.

Poor shot selection and ISO heavy basketball will be Harden, and the Rockets demise. I don't give a shit what they do in the regular season, this is the playoffs. 46 of those 73 shot attempts were misses, most were turnovers.

Not winning basketball.

Never posted my Dubs in 6 prediction.

Someone's getting hurt next game. Both teams are undercutting and there are just no good outcomes....

I will say that Draymond Green continues to get a lot of leeway in general, but especially in his confrontations with the officials. Most other players would get the double tech and be tossed.

It's always frustrating to see the officials mess up, but even taking that into consideration, the final margin was four points. James Harden shot 9/28, and the Rockets were 14/47 from downtown (31/74 overall). It was still a winnable game despite the questionable officiating, with other factors in play in the loss.

I dont think the game should have been even close if calls were made right on those 3 pointer tries. Harden got fouled on a lot of his 3 point attempts, and so were other rockets including CP3. It was just unwatchable.

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Kawhi injury was just couple years ago. Why has the NBA got worse at protecting the shooters especially in crucial series like this? Very frustrating.

I am going back to raptors series, fuq dis series.

The undercutting definitely needs to be cleaned up, though I also think Harden kicks his feet out to try to draw fouls; kind of a new spin on what Reggie Miller used to do.

You tell Dem, coach Nick. Shut up and play.

Harden now goes off for 70, fouling out almost all of GSW players

I forgot how much of a whiny bitch cp3 is. Not sure who is worst. Him or Draymond green

An interesting video about Harden : https://streamable.com/112wg

Now that refs are wise to the old Reggie Miler style kick out, Harden's come up with a new way to exploit the rule ofgiving a player space to land. he'll kick his legs out and intentionally try to land on top of the defender to draw a foul

Now that refs are wise to the old Reggie Miler style kick out, Harden's come up with a new way to exploit the rule ofgiving a player space to land. he'll kick his legs out and intentionally try to land on top of the defender to draw a foul

How about he plays basketball instead of playing the refs? Harden is terrible for basketball (A terrible example for youth and fans in general).

He is incredibly frustrating to watch, because he has the skill and the team, but the constant bitching and the constant attempt to deceive the officials is not only terrible to watch, but it's hurting his team. I'll say again, I don't give a care what they had for a regular season record, or what he was allowed to get away with in the regular season, it's the playoffs.

Furthermore, his shot selection is just miserable, that HAS to be frustrating for his teammates to watch. Long stepback threes that allow the opposing team to get in transition, and on any given night he puts up a real gem and shoots like 2-14 from downtown, or 1-17, etc.

Harden plays like a clown, I hope he gets swept.

I'm 100% agree about Harden,
I want to add that this Houston team is awful to watch. 2 systems : Iso, drive (this one with 3 variations : drive to basket / alleyhoop for Capella / kick out for 3pt).
I really hate this team.

Rivers out of nowhere with some bench scoring.

Must win territory for Houston

Rules must apply equally to everyone. Your teenage girly feelings on how the game should be refereed do not define what foul is or not. The Rockets were wronged in game 1 hence the series over.

Rules must apply equally to everyone. Your teenage girly feelings on how the game should be refereed do not define what foul is or not. The Rockets were wronged in game 1 hence the series over.

Harden shot 14 free throws, and HOU shot 2 more as a team (29 to 27). Free throws didn't lose them the game, it was TERRIBLE shot selection that resulted in Harden shooting 9-28 from the floor, he has been miserable from the the field in the playoffs shooting around 36%. Him kicking out and jumping into defenders does not constitute a foul. And, out of those 19 misses from the field, among every single one was a TURNOVER because of loss of possession. And with Harden jacking contested bombs, they result in fastbreak buckets for the Warriors.

He isn't playing winning basketball, and the refs didn't lose them game one. He is playing like shit and that's obvious

It seems like he's concentrating more on drawing the foul than making the shot, and his percentages have nosedived as a result.

In game 1

Rebounds

GS: 38
HOU:26

Assists

GS: 24
HOU:14

Threes

GS: 7-22
HOU: 14-47

FTA

GS: 27
HOU: 29

Harden

9-28 FG
4-16 3PT
13-14 FT

Saying they lost because of the refs has literally no weight. They got killed on the boards, didn't share the ball, jacked up contested shots (a bunch were threes), and still won the free throw attempt battle.

You can not like GS, but be realistic. Harden and HOU lost because of the style in which they played, playing selfish and getting outworked.

It was the same story in Game 7 last year, when they kept jacking threes despite missing over twenty of them in a row. It seems they haven't learned that that style isn't conducive to winning in the Playoffs, at least the deeper you advance and the better your opponents; particularly an opponent like the Warriors.

Have to give credit to both teams for their defense. The Hampton 5 are tough, especially with KD interested in being a good defender.

A bit of a head scratcher that GSW has scored transition baskets on rockets MADE shots.

Have to give credit to both teams for their defense. The Hampton 5 are tough, especially with KD interested in being a good defender.

A bit of a head scratcher that GSW has scored transition baskets on rockets MADE shots.

GS has been doing that for years. They push hard after makes and catch the opposing team off guard.

Yes and it's still a surprise it happened several times. Rockets have played some solid defense sans those hiccups