Curry exploded for 35 points in Golden State’s Game 3 beatdown of Houston. If he’s back for real, the Rockets (and everyone else) should be on alert.
Stephen Curry had been quiet early in Game 3 on Sunday. He had just nine points on 3-of-11 shooting in the first half of Game 3 against the Rockets, and he was 1-of-7 from downtown and, at that point, just 3-of-20 from deep for the entire series.
If Boston can’t win on the road, then it sets up an enormous Game 7 against a nearly unstoppable LeBron.
What the Boston Celtics have done in this NBA postseason — without Gordon Hayward all year, without Kyrie Irving since the last weeks of the regular season — is completely and utterly impressive, full stop. But it’s worth noting that the success they’ve accomplished has mostly come at home, which makes Saturday’s results not too surprising.
Michael Jordan will be the subject of a new 10-hour documentary hitting Netflix in 2019. A co-production with ESPN, The Last Dance will focus on Jordan’s final championship run with the Chicago Bulls during the 1997-98 season.
The multi-part documentary is being directed by 30-for-30 veteran Jason Hehir, who directed The Fab Five, The ‘85 Bears and most-recently the acclaimed Andre The Giant for HBO. According to The Hollywood Reporter the documentary will have access to over 500 hours of previously unseen footage from the 97-98 season, as well as commentary from players and basketball figures of the time.
The Boston Celtics guard went from a panned NBA Draft pick to the star of a dominant playoff team.
The iconic image of Terry Rozier so far is of the Celtics guard floating in mid-air before throwing down a hammer dunk with LeBron James trailing behind him. It was a brave, audacious, statement dunk in the third quarter of the Eastern Conference Finals against one of the greatest chase-down block artists of all time.
Mike D’Antoni knew what needed to happen. The Rockets couldn’t fall into the iso-ball trap again. It’s what they’ve done all season, it’s how they became a 65-win team and secured the No. 1 seed in the wild, wild Western Conference. And it’s how they made it through the first and second rounds of the playoffs to dance with the defending champion Golden State Warriors for a shot at the NBA Finals.
The Curry 5 “Wired Different” is the first full release of Stephen Curry’s fifth signature shoe.
Stephen Curry may have struggled in Game 2 against the Houston Rockets, but on Friday, he and Under Armour dropped the latest Curry 5 sneaker. It’s the first widely available version of shoe. In March, Under Armour released 314 pairs of the “Pi Day” Curry 5 on Curry’s birthday.
Behold, the perfect Marcus Smart line: 11 points on 3-for-9 shooting, with five rebounds, nine assists, four steals, zero turnovers, and a plus-21 in 31 minutes. What’s not captured on the stat sheet was were all manner of Marcus Smart Plays (™) within those 31 minutes of action.
Like the times he dove into the Cleveland bench to save possessions. Or when he wrestled with some big man trying to establish position and denied an entry pass. Or when he ran the offense in the fourth quarter when things started to bog down in the halfcourt.
For the second straight game, Kevin Durant was clearly the best basketball player on the floor for the Warriors or Rockets. Durant has been completely unstoppable scoring the ball: in two games, he has 75 points in 56 shooting possessions. Given his threes and free throws, it’s the equivalent of shooting 67 percent on two-pointers at high volume. That’s come against one of the league’s best defenses on the road. It’s unreal.
Mike D’Antoni couldn’t even let the question finish before cracking a joke.
“Was there any talk? I didn’t hear it.”
The Houston Rockets head coach was being asked about whether iso-ball as an identity could work against the Golden State Warriors. It was all the rage in the two days following the Game 1 loss, but Houston responded with a 127-105 drubbing on Wednesday. Oh, right. Why was anyone complaining about an identity when it led to a 22-point win?
