Four games of the Western Conference Finals are in the books, and the Warriors lead the Rockets by a 3-1 margin. That overall mark may not feel surprising, but the route the series has taken to get there has been a bit bizarre. [Read more…]
James Harden scored a playoff career-high 45 points to help the Houston Rockets avoid elimination in Game 4 against the Golden State Warriors. During the game, Stephen Curry took a hard and awkward fall resulting in a head contusion as the basketball world held its collective breath. Meanwhile, LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers are one win away from advancing to the NBA Finals without Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving limited with a knee injury. On the other hand, the Atlanta
The Houston Rockets probably don’t have the depth of physical talent to win an NBA title just yet. But mentally, James Harden’s team could already be there. They made that statement quite clear in Monday’s Game 4, a game most expected to be Golden State’s title coronation after grabbing a 3-0 series lead. Instead, led by 45 points from the MVP-runner-up, the Rockets improved to 4-0 this postseason in elimination games — and 7-2 in the Harden era. These Rockets are now just the
Rod Thorn, the NBA’s dean of discipline, has a tough decision to make. Should Dwight Howard’s elbowing foul against Andrew Bogut from Game 4 of the Western Conference finals be upgraded to a flagrant-2, which would force Howard to miss Game 5. The precedent is there, whether it was Al Horford getting ejected from Game 3 of the Atlanta-Cleveland series or J.R. Smith getting suspended two games for elbowing Jae Crowder of Boston during the first round. Elbows to the head are a
Here’s what’s been good about the 2015 NBA playoffs: 1. LeBron James. 2. Stephen Curry. 3. Paul Pierce in the clutch. 4. Clippers-Spurs, especially Game 7. Here’s what’s been bad about the 2015 NBA playoffs: Everything else. [Read more…]
ATLANTA — These are not the same Atlanta Hawks we grew accustomed to seeing in the regular season — both offensively and defensively. Need proof? Atlanta’s 15 assists on Friday night tied a season low. Need more proof? Cleveland closed the game with 10 consecutive misses from beyond the 3-point line and still finished at 40 percent from deep as a team. [Read more…]
OAKLAND, Calif — It’s not often that the Most Valuable Player and the MVP runner-up meet in the playoffs — 21 times before this season, to be exact. Even less are the number of times the matchup exceeded the hype. In that case, you may want to stay tuned to the Western Conference finals, because James Harden and Stephen Curry have something special going on right now. The monster showdown continued in Game 2 on Thursday night, and it was brilliant, fabulous,
ATLANTA — In a game when J.R. Smith stole the momentum away from the Atlanta Hawks and slowly quieted the Phillips Arena crowd, it was a potentially devastating injury to Hawks wing DeMarre Carroll that silenced the crowd altogether and may have been the biggest story of the night. [Read more…]