Jason Terry guaranteed the Houston Rockets would come out and defeat the Golden State Warriors in Game 5 of the Western Conference Playoffs.
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It gave the Warriors at least three days off before their next series, more if the injury-ravaged Los Angeles Clippers can somehow win in Portland on Friday to force a Game 7.
Curry, in fact, didn’t play a single game against Houston from start to finish, but the Warriors showed they could dominate without him and eliminate the Rockets for a second straight season.
“To me and to all of us, I hope this was a learning experience…to take full of advantage of every situation you’re in … you have to take full advantage of these moments, and unfortunately we didn’t do enough of that this year … it put us in the unfortunate position of having to play against the best team in the history of basketball”.
“So we’ve got to make sure we’re more solid, which we have been the last couple of games in particular”.
Klay Thompson led the Warriors with 27 points, including seven of 11 three-point attempts, while Draymond Green added 15 points with nine rebounds and eight assists.
“We’re blessed”, Warriors coach Steve Kerr said of Livingston.
“We’re blessed, we are really lucky. He had a terrific series”. Both tremendously gifted shooters, they often find themselves shooting uncontested jumpers because of the rapidity of the ball moving from one player to another. It was ensuring that none of us will ever have to watch the 2015-16 Houston Rockets ever again.
The Rockets didn’t play with almost the same amount of togetherness.
According to ESPN, Harden, who shot 12-for-13 from the field, was efficient, but he was one of the weak links on a defence that totally collapsed.
Wednesday – Klay Thompson makes seven of 11 3-pointers and scores 27 points in 29 minutes, Shaun Livingston has 16 points on seven-for-eight shooting as Curry’s replacement at point guard, the Warriors commit only 10 turnovers and recalibrate the mood.
On Monday, an MRI exam on Curry’s right knee revealed a Grade 1 sprain of the MCL.
The Warriors beat the Rockets in five games in the Western Conference Finals. We just don’t have the fireworks Steph provides. Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) transit police chief, Thomas J. Nestel III posted a photo of the Stephen Curry brand of heroin on his Twitter account. Playing behind Curry doesn’t afford backups a lot of opportunities, but we saw in last year’s playoffs and now in 2016, that Livingston is another sorely underrated player and major piece in Golden State’s nearly ideal blend of ballers. “Not only is it depth, but depth of skill”. All night, Curry kept his seat next to the Warriors coaches, laughing with teammates and jumping up with wild gesticulations at any highlight-worthy play. Golden State swept the regular-season series with Los Angeles, 4-0, though the first three games were close.
As for Dwight Howard, he’s all but expected to be out of Houston, as well as Bickerstaff and possibly Morey.
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There was testiness from the Rockets’ end as it became clear the Warriors were on their way to victory. It has been quite some time since a supposed one-two punch failed so miserably like this Howard-Harden duo, and the lack of synergy between them – not to mention Howard’s nearly-nonexistent role in the offense – means he will look for greener pastures. Bickerstaff later was called for a technical arguing for a foul call on Green, and the two proceeded to exchange words. The Rockets were already down 17 after one.
