The Golden State Warriors are still the NBA Champions. To be the champ, you have to beat the champs.
Can anyone beat them?
“I mean, I think that there are two teams that could give them a real good series,” TNT’s Ernie Johnson tells me.
“Houston or Oklahoma City.”
The Houston Rockets are probably one of the most dangerous teams in the NBA Playoffs.With MVP candidate James Harden leading the team, the Rockets are positioned to beat anyone if they’re at their best on offense.
Ernie Johnson won ‘Best Studio Host’ at the 2015 Sports Emmy Awards.
According to Basketball Society Online, the Rockets’ ability to thrive comes from their offense, and their success in the playoffs is going to be based on whether they can be productive on that end of the floor.
Though Harden is the Rockets’ best player, they didn’t get to the fourth seed in the Western Conference only because of him. Gordon, Faried, Clint Capela and Chris Paul all averaged double figures in scoring during the regular season. Capela is the team’s second leading scorer with 16.6 points a game, a career-high.
As for the Thunder: They averaged the most steals per game in the league this season at 9.3 and were second in the league in points off turnovers at 19.2.
Paul George and Russell Westbrook are the face of the franchise. After going 6-10 in March, OKC went 5-0 in the month of April.
As for the reigning NBA Champions, Golden State Warriors?
They’ve gone 16-9 since the NBA All-Star break. Can the Rockets or the Thunder beat the Warriors? Who can beat them? “Nobody,” Ernie Johnson tells me.
“I still think that if Steve Kerr is trotting out that same bunch every night, nobody beats them four.”
Stats are on Ernie Johnson’s side in making that astute assessment.
According to Basketball Society Online, the Dubs are averaging 115.1 points per game and shooting a league-leading 49% from the field. Efficiency has been their calling card behind the superb play of Curry and Durant.
Their offense has been clicking and that’s a scary sight for all of the NBA.One more stat to highlight is the three-point shooting of Green.
He started off the season struggling from outside however in the past two months he has seemed to hit a stride.
Green averaged 34.3% and 38.5% from behind the arc in the months of March and April respectively.
Teams will try to expose his shooting during the postseason and if he’s hitting then the Warriors definitely have nothing to worry about.
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Rockets, Thunder can’t beat Warriors says TNT analyst