I think this, unfortunately, is the right take. Thompson will eat up the boards, Crowder -- as good as he is -- is too small and slow laterally to cover Lebron. Cavs can also abuse IT4 on switches -- and if the Celtics try to scramble to help, they'll get buried by 3's.
To Kyrie. Sigh. And some people were actually thinking that Toronto was a threat to Cleveland.
I'm rooting for Spurs. Houston has 0.00001% chance of being competitive against Golden State and the Spurs by virtue of Pop/Kawhi have a 0.00005% chance.
Houston in 3 games vs. Golden State this year:
This is why I want a Celtics ECF appearance so badly. It's easier to sell the "we're close" narrative when you make the conference finals and don't have to go against a historically great team in their prime every year along with San Antonio.
The playoffs are a matchup game.....and this is NOT a good matchup for the Rockets. The Warriors have the length to switch and really get into Harden. In the 4 games he shot 4-17, 5-20, 6-13, and 8-23 as Capela and Anderson led them in scoring in two of those games while Harden led them with only 17 in another......he didn't have these struggles against the Spurs this year where 3 of the 4 games were decided by 2 points and the other by 6.
I agree, which is why I'm rooting for San Antonio and Klaws to advance. Don't think they can win 4 but they may be able to take it to 6.
The Spurs won 2 of the 3 regular season meetings with the two wins by 20+ points. Not having Parker hurts but this would be a real series with a legit chance to go 7 imo.
One of those Spurs wins was the very first game of the season and another was the 2nd night of a B2B at the end of a long road trip when the Warriors rested all their top players and started a line up of Barnes, Looney, Pachulia, McCaw, and Livingston. I wouldn't put much stock in those results.
This.
