I had the oddest thought after the Raptors game the other night. I was thinking about how resilient this team seems to be. How we sometimes screw around and let the opponent back into a game, but manage to hold on and win. How we don't play down to bad opponents (much). How we show up big for big games. How no deficit seems too large to overcome, and how we can rip off 12-0 runs so effortlessly it's frightening. That's when the thought hit me: Oh my God, what if these guys are for real? The next night I happened to re-watch the ClutchCity documentary and it's easy to imagine this current Rockets team as one that many mini-heroes emerge from. EGo with a barrage of threes, 'Trez with a block, Dekker with a hustle put-back, Ryno with a well-timed 30-footer, Ariza with a key steal, Bev... well, Bev being Bev -- all those little moments that seem so huge, so legendary, a decade or two later. And of course, a star player who has recently figured out that getting your teammates involved takes you a lot further than trying to do it all yourself. So again: What if this team is for real? Buckle up, kids. This is going to be a fun ride for the next few months.
Remember Durant's performance last year when it count? Remember Curry's? Remember Spurs'? Cav has it easy. Anyone from the West have to go through 3 contender-level teams and 1 very good team. Baring any major injuries, I said top 3 teams in the West don't have that drastic of a difference in chances to make it to the Final.
We went through like a 6 year period where we couldn't keep anyone, including our stars (Yao, TMac) on the court. This season we're already dealing with a significant injury to Capela, minor ones for Beverley and Gordon, and who knows what the future holds, we're only half way into the season. Golden State gets people out for bumps and bruises, true, but they are so lucky with their core.
We have been pretty consistent in the winning streaks to clamp down and score and win close ones. Granted that we should protect our lead especially at home if we were to be treated as a contender, but the winning of the close ones is another sign of being great.
X Factor is Gordon, if he stays healthy an efficient as he has. We have a chance against anyone. Of course, this would also mean Capela is healthy as well.
Well that's because our foundation was built on Yao and T-Mac, both notoriously injury prone players. It's not a shock that the one dude who got hurt for Golden State was Bogut, another injury prone guy. If your title hopes rest on brittle players, you can't act surprised when an entire season goes up in flames because of injuries. Another example is the Clippers last season. They looked like they were on the verge of a deep playoff run when all of a sudden Griffin and Paul(again 2 more guys with a history of injuries) went down in the same game no less. This is why I remain cautiously optimistic about this season despite the 31-9 start. We're counting heavily on guys like Bev, Gordon, and Anderson who have all had a history on injury problems in previous years. And Bev and Gordon have each missed time already.
Gordon especially has to last through the season and throughout the playoffs lol. I hate to say this, but he's the one guy of the "injury prone" bunch that I believe is absolutely imperative in achieving any kind of success. He's our "2nd Harden". Ryan Anderson would be a close 2nd in importance in my opinion.
I'm not acting surprised, quite the opposite... I expect injuries. "Freak" injuries also happen - see: Capela. They just don't happen to Draymond/Curry/Thompson. Karma isn't real, or else that mouthbreather Green would miss games every now and then.
This season is as surprising as last season, in opposite directions. I don't believe this is a one-man thing. If Morey is to get credit for this season, he was to get blame for last season, and he did. Personally, I think the difference between this season and last is character and leadership. (Oh, and that Khloe chick. )
BTW, losing DMo will prove very costly. When the playoffs come, who's going to put butt sweat on the floor so that we could beat GSW?
I'd still say the 2009 team had a better "chance," simply due to the level of competition back then (we matched up well with the Lakers and Howard's Magic came out of the east. This team is probably better than that team, but I'm not yet convinced we can beat GSW/CLE in a 7 game series.
If you do not play defense you can not achieve great goals. Without defense there are no championships. In addition to allowing 120 points to the worst team in the West, this team does not know how to maintain advantages and is unable to rebound. We depend heavily on Harden and the percentage of three-point shots.
