For those of you following the NBA playoffs you will know that the Rockets recently beat the Thunder on the back of a stellar defensive play by James Harden in the final seconds of Game 7. It wasn’t the ideal way to win but they (and microball) are still alive and I couldn’t be happier.
At the start of the season, I picked the Rockets and 76ers to make the NBA finals. Admittedly Philly has been a colossal disappointment but the Rockets have been more entertaining than I could have thought possible. This isn’t because they have dominated the league because they haven’t. It’s because they are absolute madmen.
They committed so fully to Harden’s style of play and 3 pt shooting that they traded away literally every big man on their roster. Every game they play is a shoot out and a gamble and I just have to respect that. They know they are going to get killed on rebounds, they know their defense can't stop a dominant big man. They know they're gonna get bullied and pushed around but you know what? They look you straight in the eyes, shoot a million 3s and say "We're gonna beat you anyway"
If I’m the Lakers I’m terrified. The Lakers don’t have Lu Dort. They don’t have anyone who can stay in front of Harden and stop him scoring 35 a game. Sure they have the best record and defense in the West but their offense is fairly mediocre. They don’t score actually score that many points and rely on the bigs to suffocate the paint. The Rockets don't actually need the paint. They are so weird and unorthodox that if I'm the Lakers I just pray they miss. It's feasible for Anthony Davis and Lebron to average 40pts each this entire series and still lose. The Rockets could miss 27 shots in a row and choke spectacularly. They could score 50 points in a quarter. The series could be a sweep either way or a best of 7. It is ridiculous and absolute chaos and I love it. I don’t care if our tyrannical general thinks Harden is a chump. I’m riding microball till I die and hoping the Rockets blast off.
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