I thought that GSW would drop 40 on Houston in the 1st quarter, but... 36 will do. They have to take care of the ball man, otherwise they'd be up by 15 already. But alright.... Curry is a beast BTW. 15 points already, hit 4 threes.
Well, they are similar, but not exactly the same. I think the best Suns team had Nash/Q-Rich/JJ/Marion/Amare. Let's analyze the starting 5: 1. Nash was more of a playmaker. His court vision and passes were better than Curry's. His shot was as good, but Nash could not get a shot off as fast. That's why Curry is a much, much better scorer. 2. Q-Rich was good for them, but Klay is a much better player overall. 3. JJ was overall much better than Barnes. He would make this Warriors team absolutely unbeatable. He scored over 17ppg and was an all-star level beast. 4. Marion was better then Green too. Better scorer, better rebounder. Green's passing is superior, of course. 5. Amare and Bogut are very different players. Amare was an all-star with elite scoring skills, but practially no defense. Bogut is exactly the opposite, but Amare has the edge. So, you might think that starting fives are about equal -- except that the Warriors are infinitely better on defense. They have multiple defensive specialists to cover every position: Klay, Green, Bogut, Iggy, and almost everyone else is a solid team defender. On the Suns, only Marion played great D. Additionally, the running game is better, more developed now then it has been back then. Finally, the Warriors have great depth. Players like Iggy, Livingston, Lee, Speigths and Barbosa off the bench is usually too much for other bench guys to overcome. The Suns played basically 7-8 guys. Barely. And this is why the Warriors are a better team. Barbosa is on both teams though. He must be enjoying this. In the meantime, Houston is in serious trouble right now.
Maybe he realized he needs to step up. Otherwise they get swept. So far, it's working for him. Kerr needs to try different defenders on him: Iguodala, Barnes, Livingston. All of them can play D. Although if they can contain Dwight, Ariza and Terry somewhat, Harden can score 40+. Dwight has 11 (solid), Terry 6 (OK), Ariza 2 (horrible, shooting 20%). Bogut is matching Dwight so far. But Klay needs to step up ASAP.
Harden continues his amazing play, and the Rockets have the lead. The Warriors will, sooner or later, go on a run, so Houston needs to build the lead some more.
7-0 run by GSW. There it is. They have the lead again. The Rockets go away from Harden. Who knows why... he looks fantastic out there, and they give the ball to Terry instead.
Harden is playing really well. Had he played like this the entire season, I would actually respect him. Unfortunately, this is a rare sighting, and he tarnishes most of his performances with his constant, nonsensical flopping.
