If we lose and go get LeBron, it will be the same way here. Bandwagon/individual player only fans. But, this place has made it through China Yao obsession and Lin obsession and T-Mac only fans. Crusaders like @tinman restore the balance by annoying them until they leave. DR34M WILLS IT!
It is a bad nickname. But honestly it is fitting. The Hamptons 5 sounds like a bunch of elite, smug group of individuals with hubris. That is the Warriors. That is the warriors fan base. That is the BAY AREA media in general.
For Game 3 I would start Ryan Anderson instead of Clint Capela. Give Ryan 3-4 good looks from three in the first 6 minutes and hope he can hit them. Put Ryan (our worst defender) on Kevin Durant. KD will score no matter who we put on him. I think the Warriors will come out aggressive and hopefully KD will take the bait. If he hits shots over Ryan, so be it. If Ryan gets 2 early fouls on KD, thats fine too. I'd rather have Ryan get in foul trouble early on than Ariza. If Ryan can't hit his shots early on, then take him out and keep him out. Worse case your down 10 points after 6 minutes, but Steph and Klay won't be in rhythm, if KD is making shots of Ryan. We will need Eric Gordon to make shots or we won't win in Oakland anyway. So if we can get Ryan to make a few threes early, then it'll be a bonus.
You nothing about me or how much I care if Rockets win. If I set my foot on fire I wouldn't pretend there is no fire just because I like my foot. Talking trash that like our team is just the far superior dominate team against the warriors is just biased and untrue. I am sorry if I live in a reality world not a land of fairy dust and dreams as you do. Also I have no idea about half of what you were trying to say even means. It wasn't English though.
Much respect to you. You don't owe anyone an explanation behind your thoughts and reasoning, but now that you have, I have a ton of respect for your ability to come to the opposing team's forums and provide an articulate and educated take. Wish there were more fans like you.
Lol you sound like an idiot. The Warriors never needed Durant and would have for sure been back to back champs if not for Draymond being a moron. If the Warriors stood pad they’d still be one of the top 2 teams if not the best in the league. Adding Durant makes them unfair and thats a fact. That said, I do think his addition has inhibited Curry’s game a bit. No lie, 2016 Curry was one of the most out of this world offensive players I’ve ever seen. As a fan it kinda sucks he doesnt put on dazzling displays anymore bc it was highly entertaining. Durant made them less fun to watch and just flat out unfair. Right now the Warriors are an All NBA team of sorts against a normal great team. The fact is, it would have been more of an even matchup if this Rockets team went up against that 73 win Warrior team that did not feature Durant. This last part is besides the point but I feel like before Durant, the Warriors earned everyone’s respect in that they built a historic team without any high lottery picks or high profile free agent signings. Beating a dead horse here, but adding Durant to a team that was already head and shoulders above the rest of the league was a no brainer from the Warriors stand point (hey what rich guy doesn't want to get richer) but since it was Durant’s decision, no one will ever respect his success. Lastly, for a Warriors fan to say Durant makes this a fair series is laughable and infuriating. I love my Rockets and even though they played a great gm 2 doesnt mean such success will continue. Shoot, look at new orleans and how they destroyed in game 3 only to get their asses handed to them the rest of the way. Id love to be proven wrong but I dont see the Rockets winning another game this series, especially if Curry gets going...
The fact is the Warriors did not win back to back because Draymond is who he is. How he behaved when James walked over him is part of who he is. He will get techs and get suspended because that is Draymond. We have to accept the bad with the good. Last year the Cavs would have easily beaten the Warriors without Durant. Even with Durant that series was very nearly tied 2 to 2. This year without Durant, Houston would roll the Warriors in 4 or 5 games, tops. I think that the Warriors without Durant would be a top 5 team in the league. With Durant I think they and Houston and a healthy Boston are the best teams. You can argue that the Warriors are by far the best team and I would love for you to be correct about the Rockets not winning another game, but from my perspective the Rockets seem to be playing better right now. They finished with a much better record, won the head-to-head matchup, absolutely annihilated and exposed the Warriors in the previous game. Curry is either injured or just playing badly--I think that D'Antoni may have found a formula (run as many offensive sets through Curry as possible to wear him down which results in him playing badly on the offensive end) that, unless the Warriors are able to adjust to help Curry on defense, could spell the Warriors demise. Perhaps you are correct about me being an idiot. On many occasions my wife would certainly agree with you
What are you basing this nonsense of the Warriors only being a top 5 team without Durant off of? At least I backed up my point with historic facts. Warriors won 67 games in 2015 and while they were challenged at times, were clearly the best team, and the end result showed it. In 2016, they had the greatest regular season of all time, and again were challenged when they played OKC but were able to make a comeback and get to the finals where they were up 3-1 against a vastly inferior Cavs team that looked dead in the water. Although, Draymonds stupidity is part of his persona, it doesn't negate the fact that they were the best team that year, BAR NONE and the end result was the result of the Warriors beating themselves. After that, they add Kevin Durant and steam-roll to a championship by losing a single game the entire way. You also mentioned how that series was nearly split but that's a moot point considering the end result was a 15-1 playoff record.... Yes, if this current Warrior roster without the depth they had in the past went up against the Rockets was also minus Durant, would most certainly get destroyed in 4 or 5 games, but realistically don't you think with Durants' salary available to spend on depth that maybe they would???? AND, while the Rockets are a vastly superior team to the Pels and had a historic season in their own right, but after the Pels blew out the Warriors in Game 3 of the last round, no one thought it anything more than a fluke/it happens sort of thing. And yes, the Rockets made some adjustments, played a bit faster, forced the Warriors to move a bit, the Rockets played damn near flawlessly, while the Warriors played like crap. Even then, there was a sense in the 4th quarter before Gordon hit that lucky contested 3 from the parking lot with Draymond draped all over him, that the Warriors were going to explode on their staple death runs and stun the Rockets. The fact is, this Warriors team is has 4 ALL NBA players at the Apex of their primes and Houston is merely a great team constructed of one prime level super star in Harden, an aging CP3 who is clearly not the player he once was, and a bunch of really good role players. Yes we have seen a lot of alpha and super teams lose, many times in spectacular fashion but those teams always had major caveats and holes. The Warriors also have a flaw or two, but the Star Power is quite simply unprecedented and overwhelming even for a team as good as the Rockets...
Dray and Iggy have been non-factors offensively Curry’s been struggling, and Klay only kills us if we give him a bunch of open looks KD’s been carrying them
From what I can recall of 2015, the Warriors were not clearly the best team. They went through the playoffs facing teams with significant injuries. They beat the Cavalliers in the Finals when they were missing their 2nd- and 3rd-best players—Irving had a fractured kneecap in game 1 and Love was already out, having had his arm ripped out of its socket by Olynyk. In 2016 they lost in the Finals to the Cavaliers who they were not head and shoulders clearly better than. They lost a 7-game series. They happened to win a 7-game series for the Conference Final. They were not clearly better than OKC. Most of the world asserts that Durant was weak because he left a team that was competitive with the Warriors to join them. The criticisms would be much less biting if OKC was a far inferior team. In 2017 the Warriors rolled through the playoffs with Durant. The Finals very close to being a 2-2 series but Durant played exceptionally well and Cleveland had some mental lapses at the very end of Game 3. Without Durant, and by without, I mean with Harrison Barnes, who the Warriors would have resigned if they had not gotten Durant, the Warriors would have lost the series. Even this series, I have to begrudgingly admit that it appears the refs, whether intentional or not, seem to be helping the Warriors. From the phantom touch on the backcourt violation in game 1 to Green’s constantly arguing and getting in the refs’ faces without getting a technical, to the Rockets getting called for more questionable fouls, the refs have helped the Warriors. Does this make the Warriors a better team because they get better calls from the refs? I don’t think so. I do think that, if it continues, it puts more of a burden on the Rockets to play that much better than the Warriors to neutralize the ref effect. I hope that the refs will call the remaining games more evenly so that the play on the court will determine the outcome. I don’t know what will happen. Each of us hopes our team wins. We can talk all day about how bad our teams are (kind of comical—fans each pointing out the deficiencies/strengths of their own/other team). None of that really matters. We root for the teams we like whether or not they are the “better team”, because at the end of the day, what matters is who ends up winning the Finals, and that is often not the better team. Elephant, I don’t mean to offend you. I enjoy spirited discussion whether it is about sports or the future destruction of the economy through self-driving cars. I don’t think you are the enemy just because you want my team to lose.
I wouldn't say they've embarrassed them. I mean they've outplayed that 5 man lineup so far in this series but I wouldn't go as far to say embarrassed.
They might still go back to using it the way you say. I think they wanted to get a feel on how the rockets would adjust to their best line-up. The problem is when they go back to their original line-up the Rockets will guard them easily and Capela will go off. If you notice They didnt force the issue with capela screen and rolls because it doesnt give them a feel as to how we play at our best. The Rockets still have a few big time gears to show.
Exactly, once to play your ace in the hole, it’s exposed. You just can’t go back so easily. Houston got enough exposure of the Hampton-5 in game one that they (Rockets) feel they solved it matchup-wise. It left 6 remaining games of little to no tricks in the bag. Capela averaged 32 mins a game before Warriors series and is averaging 30 mins a game through the first 2 games. Houston is still playing their game more or less. Capela was 29:57 secs in game 1 and just 13 secs shy of 31 mins in game 2. Showing that Houston isn’t changing drastically their game. Same as it’s always been since around the early stages of January. The un-written rule of thumb going into the NBA playoffs, is that “the team that has to change the most usually has the disadvantage.”. When I saw Golden State going to their finishing move right off the bat, I knew the Warriors were in trouble. Couple that with Curry doesn’t look healthy (flopping everywhere in hopes of drawing fouls)....makes me change my series outcome of Houston in 7 to Houston in 5 or 6 games. 6 games, only if the refs allow the Warriors to steal a game because of previously said flopping being called for the sake of the Warriors. As a means of extending the series to generate a little extra money for the NBA. You know it’s going to happen; But will the Warriors win a game or two because of calls. Remains to be seen. I’m debating on commenting on the thread about, what can the Warriors do vs the Rockets? It mentions 4 or 5 points. One being playing David West less. Guy got 4 mins in one game and about 6 mins the other game. Any less and he will be a DNP-coaches decision.
No offense taken but you can nit pick all you want about the Warriors supposed flaws and shortcomings but the fact remains that they have been by far the best team in the league since 2015. Just bc they might have had some favorable circumstances or had to overcome some adversity doesn't negate that.
