I still can’t believe clippers added two stars to their same core. This is a team that beat GSW as many times as we did in the playoffs. Assuming good health, it’s hard for me to imagine any other team winning the championship. I hope I’m wrong and the rockets take it home, but it’s hard for me to imagine. MDA really needs to focus on defense but everyone knows he won’t. Defense wins championships. Clippers added two all-defensive stars so they’re stronger on that end. We have a weaker defense than last year trading Paul for Westbrook (with Gordon/Tucker on the wrong side of 30). I want to be wrong, but how will the clippers lose this assuming good health? How do we beat them?
They look really good... on paper. The Rockets, on the other hand, have won more games over the last two regular seasons that anyone in the league, including the Warriors. And we came close to knocking them out of the playoffs TWICE. The only team to do better than us against them was the Raptors last year, who faced an injury-ravaged Warriors team. I'll believe the other-the-top hype about the Clippers and Lakers, and the only slightly less optimistic predictions for the Nuggets and Jazz, when any of them prove it on the court. The Rockets have already done that.
Have you looked at PG"s stats in the last 2 playoffs? People are acting like he's KD all of a sudden or something GS simply did not care about the Clippers. I think they were up double digits in both games actually.. it was like playing against JV for GS.
Sure they beat the Warriors twice but that was more the Warriors just completely underestimating them. They were up by 25 in a game and lost.. They did lose two key players in their rotation to get the stars. Shai and Gallinari, so I think there is hope. Plus Kawhi is suing Nike which is a death sentence for him. He's getting no calls by the refs this year. PG has a bum shoulder and those are always reoccuring. Bev as much as I love him is always hurt when it matters the most.
Shai and Gallo were a big part of what they did last year, so I do think there will be a bit of an adjustment period. Also, they don't really have that ball distributor that can get the ball to Kawhi and PG where they want it. Obviously the Clips are going to be really, really good, but it was the ROCKETS that basically added Westbrook to their core while replacing an often injured and under-performing Chris Paul. The Clippers got a whole lot better defensively, but I think the added explosiveness of Westbrook to the Rockets can counteract that a little bit. The West is going to be so damn entertaining this year.
You're talking like Westbrook's explosiveness is his No.1 weapon, well, he is not 23-26 no more. I am not saying he won't help but to credit the positive on just his 'left explosiveness' is too much for me. For better or worse his scoring numbers has dipped from 31 and 28 to around 23 ppg in OKC for couple years now.
It's more about relative explosiveness compared to the rest of our roster. Outside of Gordon and to a lesser extent Rivers, there really isn't another guy that can go strong to the hoop and put pressure on the opposing team's transition defense. Obviously Westbrook is 30 now so he's lost half a step, but he's still an explosive player. There's no denying that.
I got no problem with it but to say his explosiveness is going to counteract what the Clippers are doing. Well, maybe 10%. jk. Well, I think his explosiveness will terrorize the non playoff teams and other playoff teams more.
That I agree with. Ultimately we all know that in order for us to beat the Clippers in a 7 game series, Harden will have to outplay Kawhi. If that doesn't happen, we don't win.
I got no clue how he would look but an educated guess would be his assists will skyrocket and he will gradually understand that everyone around him is shooting much better percentages than him. Does that encourage him to shoot some more or less?
Not even refs can swing a series when the other team is missing their best player and third best player. The warriors were a shell of themselves. And iggy playing on one leg. And Cousins played on one leg.
yes they are. they have a much more complete roster than we do. they don't have any real weaknesses. I'm not sure how good the rockets can be defensively with firing our great defensive coach. also, while WB did have one of his best defensive seasons last year, he does tend to lose focus, sag off his man, and gamble for steals that end putting teammates in bad positions. cp3 is a smarter defender and even solid defending post play. then we also have the fact we are so small up front, and tuck is 35 years old.
id say when your team has exactly 1 pg on their roster in beverley, that's a significant weakness. and he isn't even a real pg as far as ball handler or playmaker
