If the Golden State Warriors are worried as they head into Game 6 of the Western Conference finals on the brink of elimination
Terrell Edmunds Game Jersey , they aren’t showing it.”We have a chance to tie the series at home. That’s a pretty good position to be in,” coach Steve Kerr said. ”We’ve got to win two basketball games and we’ve
done that an awful lot, so we’re very confident.”
The defending champions trail Houston 3-2 in the best-of-seven series after consecutive wins by the Rockets, capped by Thursday night’s 98-94 victory . Now
the series shifts to Oracle Arena, a place where the Warriors have lost just one
time in their last 17 playoff games.
Stephen Curry said the Warriors are encouraged despite falling behind in the series because they believe both games could have gone their way and that a few
simple corrections will get them back on track.
”We have an opportunity to re-establish ourselves at home, get a big win, keep ourselves alive, and then roll the dice into Game 7,” Curry said. ”Not all
is lost.”
Houston’s big win in Game 5 was tempered by a hamstring injury to star Chris Paul which will keep him out of Saturday’s game. It’s a major blow for a team
which is looking to reach the NBA Finals for the first time in more than two
decades.
The Rockets believe they can absorb this loss and don’t seem daunted by the setback, noting that they found ways to win in the regular season in many games
where Paul sat out with injuries.
”I don’t have a doubt,” D’Antoni said. ”They see the challenge … whether CP’s there or not, it’s a heck of a challenge, and they’re up to it. They’re looking
forward to it.”
James Harden, who has struggled offensively in the last two games and went 0 for 11 on 3s in Game 5, rolled his eyes when asked if Paul’s injury puts more
pressure on him.
”Pressure for what? It’s Game 6 of the Western Conference finals
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While that may be true, the onus is on Harden to step up and deliver an MVP-caliber performance if the Rockets hope to close out this series. Harden has
had plenty of playoff disappointments in the last few years and embraces the
chance to get Houston back into the finals.
”It’s an opportunity that a lot of people never had and probably won’t ever have,” he said. ”It’s our job to go out there and have fun with it and do the
same thing we’ve been doing. We want to take advantage of it.”
While the Rockets will be down a starter, the Warriors could get one back if Andre Iguodala can return on Saturday. The Warriors have missed the defensive
presence of Iguodala who has missed the last two games with a bruised left
knee.
Iguodala is listed on the injury report as questionable for Game 6 and Kerr said he didn’t have an update on his condition on Friday. But he did address
what it would mean to Golden State if he’s healthy enough to go on Saturday.
”He’s a great player,” Kerr said. ”He’s one of our keys, and we’ve missed him the last two games. But we can’t count on it. Injuries happen, and you’ve just
got to play with whoever’s out there. So we’re hoping he’s back, and we’ll see
what happens.”
Iguodala’s absence has been magnified in this series that has morphed into a defensive slugfest instead of the high-scoring shootout that most expected when
it began. The Rockets take great pride in the fact that they’ve limited Golden
State to less than 100 points in the last two games and think continuing to play
great defense is the only way they’ll advance.
”It’s something we talked about building up all year,” Houston’s P.J. Tucker said. ”To see our defense now be as good as it is, we still think it could be a
lot better. We watched film, and honestly … we didn’t play great defense last
night. Everybody will talk about how good a defense we played, but we really
don’t feel like that. So just keep working and trying to get better.”
Kerr said the experience of his team, which is trying to reach the finals for the fourth straight year, will be valuable as the Warriors try and climb out of
this hole and force Game 7. He referenced the conference finals in 2016 when
they fell behind Oklahoma City 3-1 before winning the next three to take the
series.
”We’ve been here before,” Kerr said. ”We’ve faced elimination on the road before – this team has – a few years ago. We faced series deficits before. We’ve
won all of those series. Our guys have the ultimate confidence that we can get
it done this time
Cheap Kerryon Johnson Jersey , too.”
Seeding means nothing in the giant game of rock, paper, scissors that is the Eastern Conference playoffs.
Top-seeded Tampa Bay lost all three meetings this season against eighth-seeded New Jersey, Toronto beat Boston three out of four times and
records don’t matter when Pittsburgh and Philadelphia meet in another battle of
Pennsylvania. The Penguins are the back-to-back defending Stanley Cup champions
while the Lightning and Bruins are among the best teams in the NHL – and yet
there isn’t one obvious team to beat.
”In the East, anybody can beat anybody,” said Devils defenseman Ben Lovejoy, who won it all with the Penguins in 2016. ”When we’re playing our best game, I
think we can beat anybody, and I think that the opposite is true. We have to be
dialed in no matter who we’re playing, and we’ve done a really good job of that
against the best teams in the league this year.”
The Devils certainly match up better against the Lightning than they would have against the Bruins, who are in for a tough series against the Maple Leafs.
Washington has had a lot of success in recent years against Columbus but has a
big question of who to start in goal and the Capitals have not played the Blue
Jackets and their additions at the trade deadline.
Before stubbing their toe in game 82 and failing to win the Atlantic, the Bruins looked like they had the potential to be a buzz saw with Tuukka Rask in
goal and enough depth to withstand injuries all season. They still might be.
”You don’t want to downplay how good every other team is, but you want to be the team to beat,” Boston defenseman Torey Krug said. ”We try to play like the
team that we are and play to our strengths and make sure that other teams are
changing the way that they play to play against us.”
That’s half the fun of the playoffs, where matchups matter more than anything than points earned during the regular season.
”There’s no sitting here saying
Cheap Mike McGlinchey Jersey , `Who’s the best matchup?”’ Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. ”You need health. You need luck. You need so many things to go your
way to win in the playoffs.”
Goaltending doesn’t hurt, either. If Tampa Bay gets the kind of Vezina Trophy-caliber play out of Andrei Vasilevskiy that he delivered for much of the
season, it could go on a deep run, though the same could be said for Pittsburgh
with Matt Murray, Washington with Braden Holtby or Philipp Grubauer, Columbus
with Sergei Bobrovsky or Toronto with Frederik Andersen.
LIGHTNING VS. DEVILS
The East’s top team for much of the year, Tampa Bay hopes Steven Stamkos is healthy after dealing with a nagging lower-body injury late in the season.
Stamkos, 100-point scorer Nikita Kucherov and top defenseman Victor Hedman make
the Lightning a scary opponent. The Devils aren’t scared. They have Hart Trophy
candidate Taylor Hall, star rookie Nico Hischier and enough veteran playoff
experience to not look out of place.
”We’ve been in a playoff spot all year long and we’ve earned the right to be here, so that’s what we understand as a group,” said Devils center Brian Boyle,
who went to the 2014 final with the Rangers and then the next year with the
Lightning. ”We believe in what we have. The way we play, our foundations,
systems, are what got us here.”
BRUINS VS. MAPLE LEAFS
Plenty has changed since Boston beat Toronto in seven games in 2013.The Maple Leafs added Mike Babcock as coach
Cheap Darius Leonard Jersey , Andersen in goal and have young stars Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner and William Nylander.
”It’s a very exciting team, a very dynamic team,” Maple Leafs deadline addition Tomas Plekanec said. ”A lot of young talent on this team.”
The Bruins can go punch-for-punch with the Maple Leafs and just about anyone in the league. Led by the top line of Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron and David
Pastrnak, they have handled injuries to Bergeron, Rick Nash, captain Zdeno Chara
and others and just keep clicking.
”We feel we’ve got a pretty strong lineup and that’s been a constant all along even though we’ve missed guys,” coach Bruce Cassidy said. ”That’s just
what it’s been this year. It’s just how we’re going to be. It’s become a bit of
our fight song, so to speak, that, hey, we can do it and different guys in and
out, guys are prepared to step in and play with whoever they’re asked to play
with.”
CAPITALS VS. BLUE JACKETS
Despite losing several key players last offseason, the Capitals won the Metropolitan Division for the third consecutive year. Their reward: a matchup
against Bobrovsky
Isaiah Oliver Youth Jersey , Artemi Panarin and the John Tortorella-coached Blue Jackets.
”We’ve always thought that they’ve been a pretty good team for the last few years, not just the last couple where they’ve had more success,” Holtby said. ”I
think we’ve always had a good challenge against them. We play better against
solid teams, teams that are coached well and it’s always fun to play against
them. I think it’ll be a good series.”
At the very least, it probably won’t be a short series.
PENGUINS VS. FLYERS
These two teams don’t like each other, which should make for some fireworks in the first round. Since they last met in 2012, Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin
and the Penguins have won the Cup twice, but something about
Philadelphia-Pittsburgh makes for good games.
”They’re really fun games to play,” Flyers MVP candidate Claude Giroux said. ”They’re not easy games to play, but it’s ea.
