Rockets-Warriors: Not a chance, Houston
Too many weapons, too many defenders on Golden State
Somehow, the Houston Rockets are in the Western Conference Finals.
Somehow, they will win. Just kidding, they don’t have a chance. The Golden State Warriors just beat their nemesis, their opposites, the one team in this playoffs that could give them just a little hiccup.
What the Memphis Grizzlies also did, was wake up the Warriors. This is where you throw out the, “Houston we have a problem.”
The Rockets miraculously came back from a 19-point, third-quarter deficit in Game 6 on the road against the L.A. Clippers and went on to win the series. The comeback was miraculous by feat, miraculous they did it with James Harden on the bench, miraculous that Josh Smith led the comeback shooting 3-pointers.
And, therein, lies the “problem” for Houston – Josh Smith.
I said it on the podcast, Smith hitting a bunch of 3-pointers is the worst thing that could happen to the Rockets. There’s a reason the Detroit Pistons gave him $26 million to leave. He has no conscious for his lack of shooting abilities.
Smith has gone 6-for-11 the last two games from deep. He’s become that guy at pickup ball that has no business shooting 3s, hits one to start the day and proceeds to believe he’s Reggie Miller, when, in fact, he’s Josh Smith.
Toss in the fact that Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and Co. are going to be bombs away on the other side of the court, will only further encourage Smith to shoot the Rockets right into being swept.
If that’s not the case, there are other factors that will do in Houston. The matchups on each end of the court don’t work. They rarely do against Golden State.
Houston has to hide Harden and their point guard – either 37-year-old Jason Terry or Pablo Prigioni (38) – on defense.
Offensively, Harden will always have a fresh defender on him – Thompson, Andre Iguodala, Draymond Green or even Shaun Livingston. Andrew Bogut should be able to handle Dwight Howard after what he just did to a more capable center in Marc Gasol (who shot 37.6 percent last series).
There’s just nothing really going for the boring one-manned Rocket. Harden will get his, simply because he gets to the line and fools refs into calling fouls. Other than that, things could get ugly. The only way it’s close is if they bombs away from deep AND make those shots – except for Smith. It’ll never keep happening.
-Warriors sweep.
