Fitkul.cz | Diskuse

od **hongwei28** » pát 28. zář 2018 6:47:46

SACRAMENTO Niklas Hjalmarsson Jersey , Calif. — If given their choice and presented with an opportunity to be honest, the Houston Rockets and Sacramento Kings probably would both admit they would rather not even play their regular-season finale.

But they don’t have a choice, and no such admission is coming.

So, the Rockets and Kings will suit up and insist they won’t just go through the motions when they play Wednesday at the Golden 1 Center.

“People pay for their tickets,” Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni told the Houston Chronicle last week.

The folks in Houston are getting a better bang for their buck than the Sacramento fans.

The Rockets (65-16) long ago wrapped up the NBA’s best record and home-court advantage throughout the playoffs. The only mystery for them is which team they will play, and the path that might await them.

Houston may not find out its opponent until after its contest with the Kings.

Minnesota and Denver entered Tuesday’s action tied for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference, and they both were one game behind San Antonio, Oklahoma City and New Orleans. All of those teams play their finale on Wednesday.

“The ultimate goal is holding that trophy up,” Houston guard James Harden told the Houston Chronicle. “So Blake Comeau Jersey , until we do that, there’s no celebrations. We haven’t done anything yet.”

Harden enters the finale averaging 30.4 points, more than two per game better than runner-up Anthony Davis of New Orleans, and he could win his first scoring title. He also needs nine points to reach 2,200 points for the fourth straight season.

Houston’s bigger concern is injuries.

Forward Luc Mbah a Moute, who averages 26 minutes per game, suffered a dislocated right shoulder in Houston’s 105-99 road win over the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday. The Rockets already were without forward Ryan Anderson (ankle).

Houston’s 105-99 win over the Lakers prevented the Rockets from having their first two-game losing streak since January. The Rockets have gone 38-5 since that skid.

Summer vacation starts early for the 12th straight year in Sacramento.

The Kings (26-55) will wind up with their lowest win total over a full campaign since a 24-58 finish in 2010-11. But they haven’t stopped playing hard, as evidenced by a 98-85 loss in San Antonio on Monday.

“We fought, we scrapped Yanni Gourde Jersey ,” coach Dave Joerger told the Sacramento Bee. “We were not out there just soaking up minutes.”

The Kings’ season has been in keeping with what Sacramento said it would offer. General manager Vlade Divac made it clear before the season even started that the Kings were starting anew and playing for the future.

The season will be known for the development of guards Buddy Hield (13.5 points per game in his first full season since being acquired for DeMarcus Cousins); top draft pick De’Aaron Fox (11.6 points per game and a team-best 4.4 assists) and European transplant Bogdan Bogdanovic (11.8 points per game, including 12.4 per game since the All-Star break).

It also will be remembered for the surreal nature of their last long homestand, during which protests against a police shooting of a Sacramento man was the backdrop to four losses in six games.

The Kings’ 13 home victories overall are the second fewest in basketball, behind only the Phoenix Suns (10). The Kings opened their home campaign and season with a 105-100 loss to the Rockets. They will close out the season against the same team they opened it against for the first time since winning the opener and finale against the Los Angeles Lakers in 2011-12.

If there is a glaring hole on Golden State’s championship resume, it’s that the Warriors have never gone back-to-back.

That will change.

The Warriors are about to win their second straight NBA championship and their third in the last four seasons – all of them coming at the expense of the Cleveland Cavaliers, who won’t have enough even if LeBron James plays to the absolute utmost of his capabilities. The Warriors have home-court advantage, and have three of the best four players who will appear in the series.

They’re just too good to lose.

If they were going to lose, it would have been in the Western Conference finals against the Houston Rockets. Houston was a team that was built for one purpose – beating the Warriors. And the Rockets might have done it, too http://www.officialducks.com/authentic-adidas-antoine-vermette-jersey , had Chris Paul’s hamstring not popped in the final seconds of Game 5 and forced him to the sideline for the rest of the series.

Golden State rallied in both Game 6 and Game 7, as Paul looked on helplessly. Yes, the Warriors caught a huge break. They won’t waste this chance.

The teams have changed mightily over the last four seasons. There were 20 players who appeared in first Cavaliers-Warriors game of the 2014-15 season – only eight of them will be in uniform during this series. Kevin Durant is in Golden State now, Kyrie Irving isn’t with the Cavaliers anymore, the benches are very different particularly in Cleveland’s case.

But the principals are still there: James, Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green.

And over these four years since James returned to northeast Ohio, the Warriors are 17-9 against the Cavaliers. Golden State needed six games to beat Cleveland for the title in 2015 Jonathan Huberdeau Jersey , five games last season and if Andrew Bogut didn’t get hurt in Game 5 of the 2016 Finals the Warriors – who ended up blowing a 3-1 lead that year – probably would have won that series as well.

James might be playing the best basketball of his life. That’s why Cleveland is still in these playoffs.

Even he won’t be able to save the Cavs this time.

Cleveland looked like a team that couldn’t guard anyone in the regular season, and to its credit has greatly improved on that end of the court during this postseason. But facing Golden State will be such a bigger challenge than Indiana, Toronto and Boston could provide. And if the Warriors get Andre Iguodala back, their spacing will be even better and put further demands on the Cavs.

The Cavs won’t have any pressure on their shoulders. The Warriors will have it all, but after Curry, Durant and Thompson found a way to rally from 15 points down in Houston to win a Game 7 on the road and capture the Western Conference, Golden State will come into this series brimming with confidence.

That confidence will keep growing until they get handed another Larry O’Brien Trophy.

The pick: Warriors in five.

—

Baltimore Ravens Customized Jerseys