Houston Rockets vs. Warriors: What the team needs to sustain success

For the Houston Rockets, Game 3 is the most pivotal one of the series as it shifts to the Bay Area. What does the team need to do/continue to do in order to get a foothold on the defending champs? Let’s look.

Houston Rockets fans — after losing Game 1 119-106 on Monday to the Warriors, our beloved team showed up to the Toyota Center guns a-blazing and they absolutely destroyed the defending champs 127-105 on Wednesday night. Now the team heads to Oakland to play the Warriors in the biggest game of the year for this Rockets squad as Game 3 is a must-win situation.

If you remember, the Rockets were heavily criticized by many talking heads in the sports media arena — including myself and our Co-Editor Brian Patterson — for not moving the ball at all during Game 1 and just ran iso ball all night long. Also, the defense was absolutely pathetic as there were guys with open shots everywhere.

I’m for certain after that devastating Game 1 loss, Mike D’Antoni and his gang stayed up all night and figured out adjustments they could make for Game 2 so they wouldn’t get embarrassed again.

The adjustments worked as they played the Rockets style of basketball we were accustomed to. It truly was refreshing to watch.

Game 2 was a win or season over situation and I can’t say enough about how well the team’s ball

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movement worked. Iso ball is great once in a while but if you want to beat a team like the Warriors you got to continue to move the ball around and find the open man.

It’s fairly obvious that we can’t stop Durant. Congrats, 98 percent of the players in the NBA can’t check the man other than Kawhi Leonard with the San Antonio Spurs. The Warrior the team has been been locking down on is Stephen Curry.

Through the two games these teams have played, Curry is averaging 17 points per game, including 2-for-13 from three (15.3 percent) which carries a lot of weight in minimizing his effectiveness. He’s had to settle for field goals to which he’s 15-for-34 (44.1 percent). The Houston Rockets need to keep keying on this strategy as it’s working tremendously thus far.

Durant had 38 points in Game 2 and did that have an effect on the Rockets winning the game?

Nope, nada, zero, zilch….

The media is already making excuses for his bad play saying that “he’s still healing” which is a invalid take. Steph has balled out in the other series and has just not been effective against the Rockets so far. It’s simple, the Rockets play better defense than what they get credit for.

I believe we have a shot to win Game 3 but it won’t be in a blowout fashion. Golden State is gonna be highly motivated in his game to pick up the W.

IF we win Game 3 I truly believe that we can somehow pull off the upset of the century and defeat the Warriors in seven games at Toyota Center.

Next: How Clint Capela can steal the Most Improved Player Award

Tip-off for Game 3 is set for 7 p.m. CDT and will be televised on TNT. The game will also be broadcast on NewsRadio 740AM and La Ranchera 850 AM in Spanish.

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