The Houston Rockets have pulled off what was thought by many critics as impossible to do in this series.
What would that be you may ask?
It’s winning a game in this series!
All Rockets’ faithful should be happy that they were able to win Game 3 which is definitely accomplishment against one of the greatest teams to ever take the court.
But the Rockets did what they’ve needed to do the entire season which is expose their opponent’s weaknesses.
They were able to do so and it looked like they were finally having fun out there with other as one teammate or another took turns in chipping in to maintain their lead that they had for most of the game.
But you want to know what the most frustrating part of Thursday’s game was?
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The fact that they let the Golden State Warriors get back into the game when they were holding a double-digit lead.
As I’m sure how you feel as well, I don’t particularly trust this team when they’re up by a ton of points.
They have a tendency to get lackadaisical, stray off the beaten path and find themselves in position where they have to fight off their opponent.
It sucks to be in that position but as long as the “W” churned out, that’s all that matters.
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But I have to admit, it would’ve been nice to see a blowout win over the Warriors but the photo-finish of a win that we were able to get was mighty exciting and extremely representative of what playoff basketball is all about.
However, what comes with the territory with win like this is the slew skepticism and critique by the national media in terms indicating as if the Rockets didn’t deserve the win.
There has been a lot of talk about the Rockets’ bench reaction whenJames Hardenhit the game-winning shot with 2.7 seconds left.
Most of it has been directed atDwight Howardwho was quite stone-faced when the jumper was nailed.
The Rockets have continued to contend that the game wasn’t over yet and it simply wasn’t time to celebrate.
Here’s what Howard had to say about that via the Houston Chronicle’s Jonathan Feigen:
Howard:"All of us we're happy we won the game, but we were upset we put ourselves in position that it took a last-second shot. 2/3
— Jonathan Feigen (@Jonathan_Feigen)April 22, 2016
And here’s what he had to tell those who thought otherwise:
Howard big finish: "For all those people saying we weren't happy and excited that James hit the shot, shut up."
— Jonathan Feigen (@Jonathan_Feigen)April 22, 2016
The Rockets have had to do a ton of fighting off the windfall of bad press they’ve been getting for just how their whole season has gone even with this win.
Even Rockets GM Daryl Morey sounded off as well:
Big win to keep series on serve&folks are worried about grading cheer technique&execution when there is still time left on the clock? OK
— Daryl Morey 🗽🏀 (@dmorey)April 22, 2016
I’m glad the Rockets have decided not to pull any punches in fighting off all of the negativity, even Rockets’ president Tad Brown — who rarely voices his strong opinions via social media — had this to say aboutCharles Barkley, one of the biggest Rockets’ haters in tweet replying to the Chron’s David Barron:
I do like the fire that’s under the bellies of the Rockets as they don’t nearly deserve the disrespect that they’ve been getting from all corners of the globe.
The NBA has even ruled that James Harden’s step-back shouldn’t have countedas they’ve said he pushed offAndre Iguodalato get the separation he needed to get his shot off.
Oh well, the Rockets can make a strong case that on the play previous with 14.4 seconds left, Iggy blatantly clamped ontoMichael Beasley‘s arm on the inbound pass.
That call was reviewed in-game and the ball was awarded to the Rockets.
The NBA said that the call that was made was correct as well.
But nonetheless, all of this vitriol that’s being spewed our way should be fuel for the Rockets to go out and shock the world and tie this series up.
Only then, we’ll be taken seriously by any of hoops faithful outside of the H-Town and understand that we’re not playing around.
So let’s shut all these so-called “experts” up and climb back into this series with a win tomorrow!
Go Rockets!
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