Ironically i kind of like old man kobe. He has toned down the self absorbed bravado and is more reflective..

The bigger irony is that MJ developed the fake nice guy personna with the "be like Mike " shit and in real life was/is quite the asshole meanwhile Kobe invented this dickhead personna whe behind the scenes apparently he is a genuinely nice guy and is friends with like the entire NBA..

A Western Conference Preview

It's been ten years since the #1 / #2 seeds faced off in the WC Finals.

Golden State has been the number one since week one of the NBA season.

#1 team in scoring
#1 team in defensive efficiency

The Rockets have been a bad turnover team while Golden State specializes in takeaways.


Golden State swept the Rockets during the regular season. Oklahoma City did the same to the San Antonio Spurs last year (so did the Rockets), yet the Spurs beat OKC in last years Western Conference Finals.

In the last round, both Golden State and Houston won three straight games to advance: Warriors were down 2-1, Rockets were down 3-1

Rookie Coach Steve Kerr did two impressive things at the beginning of the season: 1) convinced Andre Iguodala to come off the bench and no longer be a starter. 2) when David Lee got hurt and was ready to come back, the Warriors were 20-2 and Kerr told Lee there was no longer a place in the starting rotation for him......the LA Clipper's didn't have this sort of quality player coming off the bench.

Harrison Barnes has been playing BIG in the post-season and has one killer mid-range jumper.

Shaun Levingston can back guards down and post them up.

Marrese Speights, not ready to start the series, was Golden States 4th leading scorer during the season.

Draymond Green may have problems with the length of J. Smith/T. Jones.

Unlike last summer, this summer only one will win.

As Mr. Kurt Vonnegut so rightly stated. "You are who you pretend to be, so be very careful who you pretend to be."

andd while Kobe may be well-liked, he, like MJ, actually has made zero FRIENDS. MJ will die alone in his platinum bathtub bathing in caviar

Correction. Golden state is first in defensive efficiency, they actually rank 15th at points allowed..

That is what isn't true, believe it or not kobe is actually real life friends with all kinds players.. maybe its cuz they're not on his team?

Edited and corrected:


#1 team in scoring
#1 team in defensive

** encouraging news for Rockets.

Most Vegas Sportbooks have Golden State -10 tonight.

A $5 wager on Houston sweeping Golden Stste pays $750

Yeah.. well rockets ranked 6th in defensive efficiency but 19th in points allowed. Notice how in playoffs they allowed most points ppg..

whatever happens, this has been a fun fun fun Rockets ride.

I agree, rockets fans deserve much earned fun.

Interesting observations about Warriors from my scouting..

They are essentially Heat 2.0

They spread the floor with 3 shooting, lead the league in points in the paint, are second only to Cleveland in these playoffs in drives, were tied with Clippers for most efficient offense, and in playoffs and season have biggest differential
Most reminiscent of Heat, they thrive in transition leading the NBA in transition points and fastbreaks, which was Miami's not so secret weapon

Not official yet, but I've heard speculation that Andrew Bogout may not be ready to go in tonight's game.

If you twitter, two accounts you may want to keep an eye on for fun:

@BunBTrillOG


@MCHammer

Its interesting how the Triangle (ball movement) evolved into Seven Seconds Or Less (pace) to the current formula pioneered by the Heat (pace and space with focus on stretching the floor with shooters and playing fast only in calculated spurts hence how Miami was bottom of NBA in pace but led in offensive efficiency and tranition scoring)

Game 1 98-87
Game 2 105-93
Game 3 131-106
Game 4 126-113

Triangle evolved to eliminate the isolation play that led to the Jordan Rules and also break up the Twin Towers bigs clogging up the post. 7 Seconds Or Less was a reaction to defenses, particularly in the West (yeah Spurs we mean you), and pace and space really was a product of Miami's small ball lack of bigs, finding ways for smaller players to get into the paint using drives and the spacing created by 3 shooters..

I find it fascinating how specific rosters or unique situations actually influence the entire NBA

Just heard Coach McHale radio interview from Rockets shoot around yesterday:

"Pound it inside, make some threes, don't turn the ball over!"

I return to work tonight so I'm off for a nap......Geaux Rockets!

Reading the FiveThirtyEight article on Morey Ball today wow... the rockets almost literally took no mid range 2pt shots!

I think that is a unique experiment that will prove a fluke rather than trend. Mid range jumpers still have value, and when they are those 18footers that Bosh/Aldridge/Duncan swish more routinely than Curry makes a 3 then they are both MORE efficient shots and still space the floor and open the paint.

Indeed Bosh becoming a "stretch 5" probably hurt Miami in2014 more than it helped, Bosh is a lights out midrange shooter averaging about 60%.. he was a 35% 3shooter, not bad, but not exactly money..

I think most teams will look at Rockets and say, "nah" at totally abandoning midrange shots

can the rockedts win a game in Cali? Last night was crazy! Rockets would have won had Howard not been injured. sux

What a privilege to watch the MVP and the MVP runner-up go at it. I've been saying it now for a couple of years......Stephen Curry is the BEST shooter in the NBA, maybe the best of all time!

James Harden: 28 points, 9 assists, 11 rebounds, 5 turnovers
Stephen Curry: 34 points, 5 assists, 6 rebounds, 3 turnovers

Draymond Green was solid and played 42:47
Shaun Livingston......GSW would have crashed and burn if it wasn't for Livingston's 14 points in 15 minutes during the 2Q, which ended up being his most productive half of the entire year.

**GWS had 50 points in the paint
**ROX were 26-51 at the rim......simply did not finish!

The Game was much closer than anyone outside Houston wants to give credit.

What the Rockets did in Game 6 (Clippers) with Harden on bench and Tuesday without Dwight Howard......equally impressive!

Dwight Howard's injury changed the complexion of Game 1 and has potential to change the series. I recall Yao Ming in 09 playing thru Game 3 injury vs. LA Lakers without concerns, then it's announced before Game 4 that Yao is done for the season......Houston Sports radio not sounding too positive about Howard playing tonight.



Jason Terry 2-9 + Terrance Jones 2-10 = 4-19......pitiful!!!

Looking for BIG things from these two tonight:

The Kiss Of Death happened 20 years ago yesterday:



The Rockets may need such heroics to win tonight!

Mike Miller was watching JR like, "try that shit with one shoe, in the Finals..i can wait.."