Donovan Mitchell
The buildup for this series truly began in February, with some pointed comments from Golden State's Draymond Green.
During the regular season, Golden State and Houston played three times.
They are being led by star players James Harden and Chris Paul while getting help from players like Clint Capela, Eric Gordon, and P.J. Tucker on a nightly basis. After splitting the first two games on home court, Houston took both games on the road in Utah to take a commanding 3-1 series lead with Game 5 back in Houston.
As Odds Shark revealed, the Rockets have opened as underdogs to the Warriors when it comes to their odds of advancing to the NBA Finals. "Got to go out there and play".
"To win a championship you have to do something that's going to make you uncomfortable".
After more than 10 months of playing, posturing and some pontificating, it really is that simple.
The Rockets could represent the best chance to stop the Warriors from winning three titles in four years. So far, so good.
But how this Houston season will be remembered hinges largely on the outcome of this series. At the close of last year's Finals, Rockets General Manager Daryl Morey was famously quoted as saying he'd have to "up his risk profile" if his team was to compete with Golden State. Everybody talks about fighting for a championship. And with this series in particular, his play is going to be huge. The Rockets, despite the strong performances from rookie (of the year) Donovan Mitchell and journeyman Joe Ingles, took their series against the Utah Jazz in five games this past week. Rudy Gobert turned in his best game of the series with 12 points, nine boards, and five blocks. "I think it's just like a smaller city, smaller market where there's not a whole lot of other sports teams or entertainment, so people are very focused on the team". "I'm looking forward to it". "They're going to be a tough matchup". That's no disrespect to the East; that's just reality given the seasons that the Warriors and Rockets have had, and the collision course that seemed so inevitable for either to avoid.
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And I think it's a lot more important to just focus on competing with your team rather than trying to compare yourself to others. The National Basketball Coaches Association (NBCA) announced Dwane Casey as its Coach of the Year award victor today.
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"There are certain things I learned playing against Houston and not doing as well as I had hoped that's definitely a good thing", Mitchell said.
Vegas is already favoring the Golden State Warriors, according to ESPN.com.
The former Cavaliers GM knows how thin the margin of success was in 2016 and how infinitesimal it is since Golden State added Kevin Durant. Warriors have the slight edge here as they are the better defensive team, but Rockets can lock down when they need to as well.
"You have to be nearly ideal in what you do and we weren't good enough to overcome the level of talent they have on the court".
It will be Houston's second trip to the Western Conference finals in four years and the first ever for Paul.
Thursday, May 24: Golden State at Houston, 9 p.m. The point guard, who is in his 13th National Basketball Association season, has been panned for failing to get past the second round in his nine previous trips to the playoffs. "So following that trend for sure".
The verbal jousts between the Warriors and Rockets go back to the preseason, with Green questioning Houston's commitment to defense. The two larger-than-life teams this season, the former most valuable players of the league squaring off against a guy who used to be the sixth man on an underachieving Oklahoma City team, now await each other in the series we've been waiting for since October- and oh boy, will it certainly be one to remember.
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