Let’s focus on the teams that will still be playing when the postseason opens with four games Saturday and four more Sunday. It’s a rematch of last year’s Western Conference Finals, but this time there isn’t much doubt regarding how the series will end.
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Despite the talk from fans who said they’d never witness a team as great as the record-setting Bulls, or the former players from that team who claim they would sweep the Warriors in a best-of-seven series, Golden State went out and not only beat the 72-win record, but did so by stomping over almost everyone in the league.
“We … sat here at the beginning of the year thinking the playoffs wouldn’t have been this big of a struggle, so we had expectations of making the playoffs”, Rockets coach J.B. Bickerstaff said.
The Warriors are undoubtedly one of the best teams the league has seen in a while.
Not an impossible, one. Once the Warriors get out of the West, they will raise the Larry O’Brien trophy for the second straight year.Steph Curry takes a layup for the Warriors against the Grizzlies.
The good news is that the Houston Rockets managed to make the playoffs despite their horrendous 2015-2016 regular season. In addition, the Warriors have a Season Ticket Priority Wait List with over 26,000 members waiting for an opportunity to secure season tickets when they become available.
Backup point guard Shaun Livingston played nearly 25 minutes in Curry’s absence and scored nine points. “It’s going to be an uphill battle whoever we face”. If Kobe is on the court he wants the ball, he is going to take the last shot and you are going to live with results.
No. 4 LOS ANGELES CLIPPERS (53-29) vs. No. 5 PORTLAND (44-38).
What did winning 73 games do for Golden State? And they win – numbingly.
“We’ve embraced it, we’ve enjoyed it right”, center Andrew Bogut said of the 73 victories. “Everybody was smiling and laughing. Now the season really starts”.
The regular season is over.
That would have given the Warriors an extra day of rest and clinched their climb to the top of the National Basketball Association marquee… over Cleveland and LeBron James.
Kerr added: “Mainly I’m just proud and so happy to be part of it and I feel very lucky to be in the position I’m in, coaching these guys”. “We won two out of three”.
On Wednesday, of course, it was Curry who led the way-he needed to make eight three-pointers to get to 400 on the season, well more than 100 more than the record total of 286 he set only last season. We putting in that type of work in. “Last year, I think, even though we won 67 games and we were the 1 seed, people still wondered if we could get it done”.
Miami Heat’s Dwyane Wade (3) shoots against the Detroit Pistons during the second half of an NBA basketball game Tuesday, April 12, 2016, in Auburn Hills, Mich. The Heat defeated the Pistons 99-93. “We ended up with the third seed and we’re at home, but that guarantees nothing”.
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The Hawks were one of the big losers of the final week of the regular season, dropping their final two games to fall out of the No. 3 seed. The teams haven’t faced each other since before the All-Star break. Honestly, this series could go either way, but I have to go with my gut and say that the Hawks advance to the Eastern Conference Semis. Why?
