NBA: 2014-2015 Season

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The NBA Western Conference Finals begins with a 110-106 victory for the Golden State Warriors. Good, but not good enough. The Rockets had a good lead midway through the first half of play. Dwight Howard got banged up a bit with his knee. He didn't return to the game. The thing about the Rockets is that James Harden is the man; however, he doesn't have to be the primary outlet for scoring. Everyone kind of makes out Harden to be like, "you were an MVP candidate, play like one." Like only he is supposed to do all the scoring for the Rockets. Steph Curry was surely solid and hitting improbable shots. I am a Steph Curry fan, but the shots he hit were just insane. But... we're down 1-0 in this series to the boys in blue and gold.

Both teams will be dressed up and ready to go again Thursday night for Game 2 in Oakland.


Elsewhere...

The Minnesota Timberwolves won the NBA Draft Lottery. The rest of the order (from #2 to #14): Los Angeles Lakers, Philadelphia, New York, Orlando, Sacramento, Denver, Detroit, Charlotte, Miami, Indiana, Utah, Phoenix, and Oklahoma City.


Get ready for the Eastern Conference Finals tomorrow night.
 
Not overly thrilled the Lakers jumped to 2nd but what can you do? At least the Celtics are stuck in the middle of the road at the moment with no lottery picks to speak of.:P
Very much looking forward to seeing if the Wolves can make any noise next season with such a young but exciting core. Surely some time a few years down the track they'll be contenders unless this no.1 pick (likely K-A Towns according to all mock drafts) turns out to be a bust.
 
The first game of the 2014-2015 Eastern Conference Finals went to the Cleveland Cavaliers by a score of 97-89. The home crowd in Atlanta weren't happy seeing their Hawks fall at home. The two teams will tangle again this Friday in Atlanta.

Since today is Thursday in my time zone, here's a little Western Conference Finals talk. Word is that the Rockets could be without the services of Dwight Howard after his left knee sprain. Reports ranged from game-time decision to questionable. All I know is that my Rockets are already in an uphill battle with the Warriors. Things could get worse before they possibly could get better. Game 2 is in Oakland. Then after that, there's Game 3 back here in Houston on Saturday.
 
JR Smith caught a lava! (Fire didn't seem an adequate description?) A shame to see Caroll go down like he did.
 
From what they said last night, it is. He has a sprained left knee & questionable for Game 2. Watching it in slow motion though, it looked like his leg extended wrong & was close to breaking. Hard to watch but glad he's ok.
 
Another close game. We failed again. Another f:censored: up... trying to play hero ball with one timeout left that they could have used. I hate to say it, but the Rockets beat themselves when they had a chance to win the game. So we failed 99-98. Rockets better take BOTH games here in Houston, or this one is going to be an early vacation for the Rockets... as if it didn't look like one already. James Harden even knocked down something outside the arena in frustration. Hell- you CAUSED this.

Games 3 and 4 here in Houston. And if you're a Rockets fan, nothing will make you happier than to win one or both upcoming games. The latter would make you absolutely happy.
 
LeBron James took the Hawks out back tonight. 30/9/11. In fairness, nobody on the Hawks could buy a basket with Schroder leading the team at 13 points. Now they face the Cavs at home with a resting Kyrie Irving as well.
 
Lots of injuries in the Eastern Finals which is never good to see.
What is good to see are the two teams remaining with Aussies on them are both up 2-0 on their opponents. If I get a Cavs/Warriors Finals, I'm guaranteed another Australian to win another championship.:dopey: I wish the Raptors had an Aussie player.:(
 
THIS JUST IN...

Kyle Korver has an ankle injury and may need surgery. He will miss the rest of the playoffs. This is a HUGE hit if you're a Hawks fan. Hawks are already down 2-0 in the series as they head into Cleveland. It just means the Hawks will have an even tougher road to try to make this series competitive.
 
Is Stephen Curry human? I was watching the NHL hockey game between Anaheim at Chicago more because I just couldn't bear watching my Rockets fail this badly tonight. This game ended up being a 115-80 annihilation of my Rockets. No epic rant or vicious anger from me- just depression. The Rockets just are not executing. I even saw a shot of fans leaving Toyota Center sad. All in all, this game was just terrible to watch if you're a Rockets fan. A game like this is the textbook definition of a clunker in sports- nothing groung right for your team, just about everything else going right for the other team. We're now one loss away from continuing the "Can't Win in Houston" stigma that haunts so many teams here.

Houston will now have to win four straight games to make the NBA Finals at this point. I doubt the Rockets will win even one game unless Golden State gets bored and LETS the series go to Game 7. The Warriors are not the Clippers- Golden State doesn't beat themselves.


Congratulations to Golden State. You may damn well just hand Golden State the series victory and await the winner of CLE-ATL.
 
Oh look Dellavedova managed to get another player ejected. This time though it was Horford doing the damage, but still what the modern NBA calls as flagrant 2 is pathetic.

And this Dellavedova guy seems like the type of person that should get punched in the face.
 
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*Dellavedova. He's dirtier than Bill Laimbeer. This guy is ruining the careers of all-stars by diving at the knees. That is BAD BAD BAD for the league, and should be absolutely unacceptable. There needs to be a rule change. The NFL made one after DJ Swearinger ended Dustin Keller's career.
 
You shouldn't be allowed to leave your feet to lunge towards another player for anything. Scrambling for a loose ball must be done on foot. It would give an advantage to shorter players while protecting the legs of taller ones.

Bazemore is playing ATL out of the game. Scrub playing hero ball. ATL's defense also looks like dog excrement through a malignant, polyp-filled anus.

Millsap and Teague are invisible. They're useless. Nobody on ATL can carry the load when another has an off night or a broken ankle, as it were.
 
Wow, that game went to OT? What the hell happened? I passed out in the 4th when I thought it was garbage time.
 
sumbrownkid
Oh look Dellavedova managed to get another player ejected. This time though it was Horford doing the damage, but still what the modern NBA calls as flagrant 2 is pathetic.

And this Dellavedova guy seems like the type of person that should get punched in the face.
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Omnis
*Dellavedova. He's dirtier than Bill Laimbeer. This guy is ruining the careers of all-stars by diving at the knees. That is BAD BAD BAD for the league, and should be absolutely unacceptable. There needs to be a rule change. The NFL made one after DJ Swearinger ended Dustin Keller's career.
Click to expand...

On what planet did you guys think Dellavedova did anything wrong in that play today? He did a legal box out of Horford, Horford grabbed Matthew's arm and dragged him over the Hawks player on the ground and Dellavedova tripped on it and fell over. To which Horford responded how I ask? He body slammed Dellavedova whilst trying to elbow him in the head.
WTH kind of play is that from the Hawks? Horford deserves to be suspended the next game for that 🤬. At the very least, the flagrant 2 was 100% warranted.
And btw, he did nothing wrong in the Korver incident either. It was a close game, there was a loose ball which Dello dived on, people dive on balls in the SAME circumstance ALL the time. Korver was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. THIS IS SPORT. Injuries happen. Since when was hustle play dirty?
C'mon guys, I expected more sense from you.

Yes, back in the Bulls series Dello should not have leg locked Taj Gibson and Gibson should not have been ejected, double technicals were warranted though. One incident doesn't make him a dirty player (and of course there was no risk of injury in the incident). It's just a bunch of morons looking for someone to blame the Hawks' woes on who are making all this noise. It's like Lebron said, earlier in the series a Hawks player pushed him mid-air going to the hoop and because he didn't get injured from it nobody made anything of it. Just because a player got injured/ejected, they're blaming Dello whilst completely ignoring the circumstance.


Edit: And just for the record I'm glad the Hawks are getting spanked since they decided they want to play dirty all of a sudden.
Let's go Cavs!


Edit 2: One more thing, which Lebron also keenly pointed out. Dello works his tail off to be in this league, he's not as naturally talented as others, he's out there putting in the extra effort. He doesn't trash talk, the Taj Gibson thing was the only thing he's ever done that was conceiveably dirty. So it's very disappointing to see everyone trying to drag this poor guy's name through the mud for no good reason. Let's just ignore the fact that someone who went undrafted two years ago and made the league through Summer League is now starting in place of an injured Kyrie Irving and doing a solid enough job to help his team to victories in the Eastern Conference Finals.
 
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Pending epic failure, boredom by Golden State, or Golden State LETTING the series go extra games... we're likely playing our final game of the 2014-2015 season. That is, unless the Rockets find out how to beat Golden State. They then will have to find those ways to beat Golden State and apply those methods several more times to have ANY hope of making the NBA Finals. Otherwise, it may as well be Golden State winning tonight by default to meet the winner of the CLE-ATL series.

Here are some numbers. Teams down 3-0 and facing elimination are 0-116 all-time in series. That means that 59% of such series ends in a sweep. 88% of such series don't even reach Game 6. (Not sure about this stat) Only 3 or so teams have forced Game 7 when down 3-0.

I usually watch pro wrestling on Monday nights, so I'm sure I'll have something easier and more fun to watch especially if my Rockets end up failing tonight. If the Rockets somehow win tonight and last one more day, Game 5 will be in Oakland on Wednesday. So the Rockets will have to go to Oakland twice if they want to play in the NBA Finals. That even includes if the series goes to seven games.


Red Nation is nearing its swan song for 2014-2015 unless they somehow win and keep winning to avoid elimination. We'll see what happens, but I am NOT liking the Rockets' chances unless divine intervention or epic collapse happens to Golden State.
 
Paulie, the NBA as a brand is not built on scrappiness. That's college-level stuff. The NBA runs on star power. If they want to protect their brand, they'll make a new rule about diving towards players.
 
Rockets may have won tonight, but they seem to forget they nearly blew a 25+ lead after the first half. But of course, typical Rockets fans on the net going crazy & calling it in 7 now. I've never seen such a fan base celebrate every win as if it was the Finals Game 7. :lol: Nice to see John as one, stays more down to earth in his review of his team.

As for the game, Green's 2 fouls at the end were bogus (Smith was under the basket facing away from it; no position to grab a rebound & Harden threw his arms up & locked Green's). And Golden State incredibly lucky Curry was not seriously injured coming over Ariza. Watching the replay, he was unable to brace himself & bumped his head coming down. However, this proved somewhat beneficial because he would have easily broken his arm/shoulder had he braced. His head injury was called a small contusion & was able to return.

The big news is what will happen to Howard who was involved with @Paulie's Bogut. Bogut did shove Howard, & Howard kind of pulled a Metta World on Harden, by swinging his arm out of his view and hitting Bogut in the face. But, the controversy isn't if Howard did it intentional or not, it's that it was called a Flagrant 1 where as Al Horford was given a Flagrant 2 for also striking a player in the face as well as Taj Gibson who only kicked away Dellavedova's legs. It was not reviewed extensively either, so now the league is being put on the spot for consistency & changing the rules. It is rumored the league will admit the mistake & upgrade it to a Flagrant 2 tomorrow. This puts Howard over the foul limit & should result in suspension from Game 5.
 
One more day, Red Nation. One more day.

Because of inclement weather here in Houston, I was unable to report on the Rockets' 128-115 victory on Monday night. The satellite TV reception was lost, so I basically just sat out seeing most of the rest of the game. I didn't see too much of the game anyways.

I wish I could be as jovial as the Red Rowdies on the Rockets winning Game 4 and forcing a Game 5 in Oakland. However, I still don't think the Rockets will make the NBA Finals. Now the Rockets will have to win in Oakland (Game 5), in Houston (Game 6), and again in Oakland (Game 7) if the Rockets want to go to the NBA Finals. I still don't see it happening though I obviously want my Rockets to somehow pull this one out.


The Western Conference Finals will NOT be a sweep. Will the CLE-ATL series follow suit? Atlanta fights for their playoff lives later today (since it's Tuesday now here in Houston) in Cleveland, down 3-0 in the Eastern Conference Finals series.
 
Omnis
Paulie, the NBA as a brand is not built on scrappiness. That's college-level stuff. The NBA runs on star power. If they want to protect their brand, they'll make a new rule about diving towards players.
Click to expand...

Any time you need to dive on the ball it's because there are other players around, I would be really dismayed if they introduced such a rule, they may as well let the Harlem Globetrotters in to the league as well. I really enjoy watching hustle players, using sheer determination to beat more talented, more "lazy" players.
 
I'm just a little salty that the best team in basketball got curb stomped. Korver didn't deserve that ****.

That said, I don't know what happened with Budenholzer. Seriously, it's like he didn't even know what to do. Looking forward to Golden State vs. Cleveland. I'll be really pissed if I have to watch the Houston Hardens.
 
Omnis
I'm just a little salty that the best team in basketball got curb stomped. Korver didn't deserve that ****.

That said, I don't know what happened with Budenholzer. Seriously, it's like he didn't even know what to do. Looking forward to Golden State vs. Cleveland. I'll be really pissed if I have to watch the Houston Hardens.
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Heh, define "best team", because Golden State has put up top 10 all time teams numbers this season.:P

Nobody deserves to be injured, but it's part of the game.

No offence to @JohnBM01 but I hope Golden State put Houston out of their misery tomorrow so we can get on with another Aussie winning another championship ring.:P For what Cleveland and Delly have been through to get here I kind of hope Cleveland win in some sense, on the other hand Golden State are a more deserving team simply for what they've accomplished and how good they play. I'll be happy either way, it's like 51% Cavs/49% Warriors.:dopey: I'll be happier still if the Aussie that wins has a respectable impact for the Finals. No doubt Delly has come up big for the Cavs in the postseason so far, nobody could have predicted the points production he's managed to contribute in addition to his regular defence and running the offence.

Also looking forward to Summer League (too early?) to see Caboclo play again and gauge any improvement.
 
Did you watch ATL? They don't have any star power compared to the Curry-spiced Warriors. In the regular season they picked teams apart with teamwork and Budenholzer's Spurs-influence was on full blast.

But, you know what? It worked against them in the playoffs. They probably would have been knocked out by DC if Wall had been in there. Lebron roasted them on a spit.

Then look at Houston and G-State. Houston is the James Harden show. He has to score 40 for them to win. The team is otherwise only good for alley-oops. Everyone else is garbage. Golden State is obviously the best team, but they can win by teamwork or by Curry going off flinging 'em in from downtown. When the team is down, Curry scores 40 and wins them the game. When the team is on, Curry scores 35 anyway and they blow out their opponents.

So, when I said the best team in basketball I meant the unit that most has to function as a whole. Once Shumpert blanketed Korver, ATL's unit died and their championship aspirations went down the drain.

I will be extremely surprised if Golden State doesn't win the championship. I wouldn't be surprised if they swept the Cavs.
 
I would be surprised if Golden State swept Cleveland, if only for the fact that Cleveland has LeBron. LeBron will be able to will the Cavs to at least one win.
 
Rockets forced Game 5, and I think either this will be my Rockets' final game of the season, or we somehow get lucky and bring the series back to Houston for Game 6. So your wish may well be granted. You'll get a CLE-GS final (pending divine intervention or any other unreal circumstances).

Game 5 of the WCF is tonight, by the way in Oakland. June 4 is the start of the NBA Finals for this season.
 

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