2017-2018 Around the NBA

Sir'Dom Pointer said:

He was -13 for the game.. he shot horribly and we all know that CP3 can stuff the stat sheet.

I still think Houston is the 2nd best team in the league regardless.

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A game where stats don't matter. They won in Oakland when they had the task of implementing a major new piece and Golden State did not.

That's an impressive, impressive feat. Golden State legitimately might not lose another game in that arena the rest of the regular season.

Rich said:

A game where stats don't matter. They won in Oakland when they had the task of implementing a major new piece and Golden State did not.

That's an impressive, impressive feat. Golden State legitimately might not lose another game in that arena the rest of the regular season.

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For sure.
But I also felt like the Warriors didn't take this game seriously.. they were playing in first gear and after Dray went down their rotations and defense were all over the place.

I can't state enough how important Dray is to them on both sides of the floor.

Warriors are overrated. Last in the league on def and wouldn't make the playoffs if they started today.

Steph Curry with the shot boi!!

Rich said:

The one weakness I see for Houston is, after their top 9, it's a steep drop off. Like totally unplayable guys after that.

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Houston's Achilles Heel is their superstar franchise player doesn't show up on the big stage.

I'm not buying any Houston hype, that team will never accomplish anything led by a choker of Harden's caliber. Do people choose to forget how much Harden disappears when his team needs him the most?

It will be the same story in the playoffs. CP3 will likely be nursing an injury of some kind while Harden forgets how to play basketball and Houston goes home quietly. Regular season wonder.

JMoneyYourHoney said:

Houston's Achilles Heel is their superstar franchise player doesn't show up on the big stage.

I'm not buying any Houston hype, that team will never accomplish anything led by a choker of Harden's caliber. Do people choose to forget how much Harden disappears when his team needs him the most?

It will be the same story in the playoffs. CP3 will likely be nursing an injury of some kind while Harden forgets how to play basketball and Houston goes home quietly. Regular season wonder.

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Stars on largely one star teams all struggle in the playoffs a bit. It's just really easy to defend. Cavs neutralized IT last year and their role players couldn't do much.

Agree about CP3 though. Guy is never healthy in the playoffs it seems.

Soar said:

Stars on largely one star teams all struggle in the playoffs a bit. It's just really easy to defend. Cavs neutralized IT last year and their role players couldn't do much.

Agree about CP3 though. Guy is never healthy in the playoffs it seems.

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Harden was a choker when he was with other stars. Do you recall how monumentally poor he was in the 2012 Finals? I believe he set a playoff turnover record against GS 3 years ago in Game 5, and last year against the Spurs he fell to pieces.

The guy is not a winner and Houston will do nothing under his "leadership", mark my words.

Think you're being too harsh on Harden. He was super young in OKC and went up against the Miami buzz-saw. And the playoff Houston teams haven't been built for any real playoff success. And Pop is the master of shutting down teams that rely on one guy.


I don't think they are beating GS but it's not because Harden is a choker or whatever.

Paul and Harden are going to wonders for each other's playoff success. Most of the time in the playoffs you just need multiple guys who can get the job done. System means so much less.

Even S.A., the one system that might make you think otherwise...has struggled in the playoffs somewhat now that they one have one reliable guy who can make things happen. Even in 2014, Parker/Manu/Duncan at advanced stages or their careers were making amazing things happen and helped to lift the team to elite levels with a young Kawhi breaking out. But now none of those guys are diffeeence makers normally. Manu is Just too old and Parker has his moments..

Now that Houston has two legitimate guys...plus a ton of 3/D guys and good role guys like E.G. for explosive scoring...they're dangerous.

Unfortunately Golden State probably still has the best two players in that series. I just don't see any team without LeBron beating them: LeBron Can and will at minimum be the best player on the court. And that's huge against GS. I wish we would have landed Paul George. Think we could def. beat GS with a lineup of IT/JR/PG/Crowder/LeBron with TT and Wade off the bench.

Sir'Dom Pointer said:

For sure.
But I also felt like the Warriors didn't take this game seriously.. they were playing in first gear and after Dray went down their rotations and defense were all over the place.

I can't state enough how important Dray is to them on both sides of the floor.

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steph curry is the only unanimous MVP in NBA history!

it's amazing to me the excuses he gets

Fuck the warriors

Rich said:

The one weakness I see for Houston is, after their top 9, it's a steep drop off. Like totally unplayable guys after that. So, tonight, they ran an 8 man rotation. 9 is enough if you have a good mix, and they do, to still keep minutes in check, and Nene didn't play.

But if someone gets hurt, that could mean big minutes for the starters. Kinda like us last year to an extent. After you got past Shumpert, Korver, Frye, and Jefferson it was a wasteland. Same for them.

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Aside from Harden, they def have some very injury prone guys on that roster though. CP3 is like a gaurunteed bet to miss time every year. Gordon has been injury plagued throughout his career. And then there's Nene. They might be that team that actually needs those 10-12 guys to be capable NBA players if they actually want to hit 60 wins.

bigfoot5415 said:

What exactly happened with green? I read that he went down and they blew a big lead.

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He left with a knee strain.

However, this morning he had a MRI. Precautionary or did something happen over night that scared them? No results yet.

Edit: Upon conducting research, there is a danger he did something serious. Derrick Rose had a similar landing that resulted in a torn meniscus. ACL tears also occur not infrequently due to ackward one-leg landings.

I'd argue Draymond is their most valuable player. By no means, am I saying best player.

Just he sets everything up for them. He sets the best screens, he's their best playmakers, he's their best defensive player.

If he's out, I think it hurts them a lot. They're at least now beatable, but still the favorite. At least the gap would narrow.