"First team all defense" his posters greets you at every entry point in the city of Memphis, Tony Allen...he is unbelievable with his one on one defense and perimeter defense, 16 steals in 4 games is just ridiculous, the warriors so far have no answer for him.

According to Charles Barkley “Jumpers—I always say, jumpers are like pretty girls. They’re really good looking when they’re going in, but then when you realize that pretty girl is dumb, you’re in for a long date.”

Great team performance and exceptional coaching by David Joerger, he ensured the team stuck to its mantra of pounding the paint with isolation plays for Zibbo and Gasol, the warriors refused to double any one of them and got punished by the kick outs for threes, they also protected the perimeters, running the warriors out of the lane.

Again..is Mike Conley the most under rated point guard in the NBA? he made Curry sweat on the floor defensively and stayed with him offensively.

Steve Kerr has to win this series and the conference to prove he is a better coach/ tactician and the regular season record is not primarily about the splash brothers breaking scoring records, else there is no justification for the firing of Mark Jackson. i would keenly watch for the adjustments Kerr makes especially defensively.

Glad to see 2 former Celtics perform today..Green and "THE TRUTHHHHHH"

way too much home cooking on this bulls cavs game. the cavs had no business winning this game, but the refs tried to steal it for the bulls nonetheless.

Yo-yo series.But a what shot by Lebron.So many "clutch moments" in the Eastern conference

oh! see flogging. woulda liked my rox to put up a little more fight, but eh...its not our year. we still dont have that defensive identity we need to be a contender.

If Rondo wasn't such a beesh the Mavs woulda beat these Rockets easy. They are soft! If they didn't hack DeAndre 1,976,522 times they would have lost by 50 points yesterday

Lol at the Cavs coach who didn't even know he was out of timeouts. Gasol was injured so I guess things have evened out but with Kyrie also struggling the Bulls should be handling business. You don't want a potential Game 7 vs the Cavs in Cleveland

John Wall still hurt but the Wiz still rolling. Sessions standing in pretty well the Hawks have been unconvincing

The Warriors having plenty trouble with the size of Z-Bo and Gasol and Tony Allen's defence. Not getting those awoof offensive rebounds like before. Steph needs to show why he is MVP ohh and Klay Thompson too he's been awfully quiet

rockets need to bury their head in shame. from what i hear, the players werent exactly fans of the hack-a-jordan thing. this team is too soft and cant play defense!

GSW is back to what they do. people think they are a jump shooting team because of all the pretty shots. if you really watch the game, you see that they take mostly open easy shots which come from driving into the paint area. this is still a team with fundamentals, and they will beat the grizz

John wall needs to come back and take out the hawks. these guys are pretenders

birdman:
John wall needs to come back and take out the hawks. these guys are pretenders

Woulda been Wizards in 6 or even 5 if Wall were there like I predicted

Sessions has been a fluke, his assist to turnover ratio is laughable, his FG% laughable and his ability to split hawks defense is comical the most

Pierce saved the wizards in game 3 but I doubt they'd win any other game with that useless of a point guard leading offense. Wall's play, court decisions and his playoff leading assists have kept wizards on

He needs to play with those hands as it is

Glad Warriors has found a way to silence Allen. A warriors-clippers finals would certainly be more entertaining than the other
I see clippers winning this championship though...

The Pelicans have fired Monty Williams. Dumb dumb decision but it should be expected from any organization that calls itself the Pelicans

Its actually better to take 10 open 3's than 20 contested long range 2's that's what a lot of people don't realize

Just like Mark Jackson, the struggle for the control of the team cost Monty Williams.. A very rash and silly decision if you ask me, the Pelicans have the potentials, they are a very young team and Monty had earned the respect of the team and were heading in the right direction, it is sad that owners and GM don't know when to back down and allow coaches manage the team.

It would be interesting to see who his replacement would be, but I know Davies is unhappy with this development.

all the cavs bulls games i have watched so far, i havent seen any evidence of xs and os from blatt. literally lebron is expending energy to power this team to wins. maybe they will beat the bulls, but the hawks or wizards will tear them apart

Howard's running the floor in this quarter. But gosh he sucks at free throws though.

What's up with LAC boys tonight?

Ewuro4:
Howard's running the floor in this quarter. But gosh he sucks at free throws though.

What's up with LAC boys tonight?

rockets are a bad matchup for LAC. On any given day, they should beat the Clips. They just dont have the defensive discipline and heart of a champion. They played hard last night just to avoid being disgraced. Come thursday rockets will be going home.

Btw, am I the only one who really doesnt like Noah? i want to see bulls lose just for that reason alone.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-y44CFaopQM

[size=15pt]Rudy Gobert 13 Points/18 Rebounds/4 Blocks Full Highlights[/size]

birdman:


rockets are a bad matchup for LAC. On any given day, they should beat the Clips. They just dont have the defensive discipline and heart of a champion. They played hard last night just to avoid being disgraced. Come thursday rockets will be going home.

Btw, am I the only one who really doesnt like Noah? i want to see bulls lose just for that reason alone.

You're right. LAC was outplayed and I began to question LAC's past victories. But hey for a team that have never qualified for any playoffs in NBA history, they are up to par.
Oh yes, Chris Paul and his pack will be back in full force tomorrow. I'm rooting for them and Cleveland for finals.

Wetin Noah do you, His pony tail ? same beef I have for Harden .. Can't stand the dude too.

Curry is on FIRE

GS crowd control though Now 'That's hot' !

@ewuro the game is where the grizz want it to be. game 5 on the road, the warriors are hot and yet only up by 8. at this point the game is in favor of the grizz.

Lol at the Bulls. In an elimination game at home you drop 13 points in a quarter? Lol down by 20 with less than 10 mins to go

Why is Thibodeau not playing Gasol? Anyway this might be the last game he coaches them anyway. Lebron hasn't even needed to be exceptional the Bulls have made life so easy with their offensive ineptitude.

The Clippers were never going to beat the Rockets in 5. So long as they handle business tonight they will be good. They have a great chance to close it out on their floor

Dellavedova sonning D.Rose this is painful to watch. Lool

Lebron shooting 7/22 in a Cavs blowout. These Bulls are beyond pathetic. Thibodeau too for leaving Gasol on the bench so long

Bye Thibs!

tibs finally exposed. just like jvg was. playing hard is not enough. playing with heart is not enough. you need imaginative plays on offense instead of relying on stingy defense all the time.

1st q and it looks like my rockets will be going home tonight. i am at peace

The Bulls urgently need a total overhaul, a breath of fresh air, new players and better ideas, Noah would not solve the needs of the board, he lacks post moves and does not dominate the board on both sides, in Butler I think they have the future but he desperately needs to improve his offense continuously, the problem with the Bulls was the fact that they could not make buckets, the bench was practically non existent during this series.

It's very hard for me to concede it's time up for Tibs, he is burned out and the Bulls need a new voice, he was unable to reinvent himself and the team philosophy and that cost them this season albeit he has been very unlucky with injuries but the Bulls need new personnel in vast positions.

The fatigued Clippers found themselves in uncharted waters and choked despite leading by 23 at some point in the third, all their superstars spurned the responsibilities of taking shots when it mattered most as the a Rockets charged back, it's unimaginable but definitely not unbelievable if you consider that Kevin Mchale was somehow able to talk some sense into Howard after his technical and 2 fouls early into the third quarter to stay on the court and keep his cool.

J smoove hands down mutilated the clippers, he was able to get back in the groove from three point lane.

Huge credits to Mchale he stuck to the group that brought them back, he resisted the temptation to bring back Harden and it paid off, they tightened the defense which was horrendous in the first and rebounded the ball, this is coaching..

This is a moral victory for the Rockets, mentally the Clippers confirmed my assertions all this while, they are a very indiscipline team that is soft and crumble under intense pressure.

Game 7 here we goooo

Did that really happen? Wtf Clippers

GAME 7....hehehe ki la ri leni!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am surprised at how well the rockets defended the high pick and roll with CP3 and Griffin. If CP3 keeps the ball, his defender funnels him to the big men Howard and Smith. If Griffin keeps the ball, his defender hedges just a bit, then doubles CP3 in anticipation of Griffin trying to pass the ball back. You would think passing the ball to the weak side for a 3pt would then be easy, but I wonder if the long arms of Smith, Ariza and Howard made that dangerous.

I do have to admit it looked like everybody except CP3 mailed it in when 17 up and about 7 minutes to go. Hard to re-energize yourself once your mind is out of the game.

Hehe,bulls cleared ! I just hope kyrie is okay,can't afford to miss him
Cavs - Golden state warriors for the finals.

Wowzers! A chance to advance to your first conference finals at home and you drop 15pts in the 4th?

Unbelievable! Also why is Blake always so poor in the 4th? Son needs to pace himself

Roland17:
The fatigued Clippers found themselves in uncharted waters and choked despite leading by 23 at some point in the third, all their superstars spurned the responsibilities of taking shots when it mattered most as the a Rockets charged back, it's unimaginable but definitely not unbelievable if you consider that Kevin Mchale was somehow able to talk some sense into Howard after his technical and 2 fouls early into the third quarter to stay on the court and keep his cool.

J smoove hands down mutilated the clippers, he was able to get back in the groove from three point lane.

Huge credits to Mchale he stuck to the group that brought them back, he resisted the temptation to bring back Harden and it paid off, they tightened the defense which was horrendous in the first and rebounded the ball, this is coaching..

This is a moral victory for the Rockets, mentally the Clippers confirmed my assertions all this while, they are a very indiscipline team that is soft and crumble under intense pressure.

Game 7 here we goooo

The Clippers pissed that game and the entire series away. I don't think the Rockets won it as much as the Clippers lost it

A40:

The Clippers pissed that game and the entire series away. I don't think the Rockets won it as much as the Clippers lost it

agreed. but you could say the same thing of game 1 for the rockets. whoever wins game 7 deserves it imo. I wonder if we will see the lineup with ariza, brewer, smith and howard again. Houston may have stumbled on it by accident, but the length appears to have been unsolvable by the clips.

A40:

The Clippers pissed that game and the entire series away. I don't think the Rockets won it as much as the Clippers lost it

I humbly beg to disagree with your notion that the Rockets do not deserve praise as much as the Clippers deserve condemnation for their performance, last nights game was as good as over by the third quarter, in fact it seeming reminiscent of game 4 game in LA, a blow out by the end of the third...thus I would not fail to give Mchale his due credit he deserves for noticeable adjustments made, especially towards the tail end of the third quarter, switching between Howard and Smith on the previously hot Blake and also switching between Brewer and Terry on Paul, defending the high pick and roll was no joke especially with DJ ready to ponce for rebounds.

The Clippers were punished for their relatively lack of experience at this stage of the playoffs, every player passed on a great and no one wanted responsibility for the ball and that includes Paul when the Rockets were charging, they resorted to jump shooting as different looks from different Houston players meant Blake had to shoot frump shots.

I understand the rockets are your perennial rivals and it disgust you to see them win games but just give them the credit they deserve..

Roland17:


I humbly beg to disagree with your notion that the Rockets do not deserve praise as much as the Clippers deserve condemnation for their performance, last nights game was as good as over by the third quarter, in fact it seeming reminiscent of game 4 game in LA, a blow out by the end of the third...thus I would not fail to give Mchale his due credit he deserves for noticeable adjustments made, especially towards the tail end of the third quarter, switching between Howard and Smith on the previously hot Blake and also switching between Brewer and Terry on Paul, defending the high pick and roll was no joke especially with DJ ready to ponce for rebounds.

The Clippers were punished for their relatively lack of experience at this stage of the playoffs, every player passed on a great and no one wanted responsibility for the ball and that includes Paul when the Rockets were charging, they resorted to jump shooting as different looks from different Houston players meant Blake had to shoot frump shots.

I understand the rockets are your perennial rivals and it disgust you to see them win games but just give them the credit they deserve..

I would give credit if it was a calculated move but it seemed more like a gamble and crap throw by McHale to me more than anything else. James Harden was even on the bench while most of the comeback was on. Smith is a meh defender and what I saw was Blake Griffin losing his legs and dishing yet another poor 4th quarter. Their offense did not execute and their defense couldn't stop a nosebleed. Rockets were 40-15 in the 4th. That is simply unacceptable at this level

They were not desperate and didn't play hard enough to close out the series. No wonder they say the hardest game to win is the last one.

A40:

I would give credit if it was a calculated move but it seemed more like a gamble and crap throw by McHale to me more than anything else. James Harden was even on the bench while most of the comeback was on. Smith is a meh defender and what I saw was Blake Griffin losing his legs and dishing yet another poor 4th quarter. Their offense did not execute and their defense couldn't stop a nosebleed. Rockets were 40-15 in the 4th. That is simply unacceptable at this level

They were not desperate and didn't play hard enough to close out the series. No wonder they say the hardest game to win is the last one.

The bolded is a cogent reason why you should accord Mchale the respect he deserves for the adjustments he made. Defensively, Harden was a liability and was not getting the calls he deserved in that game offensively, the Rockets needed stops, trading buckets with the Clippers would amount to a blow out loss, he called a time out, made changes with his personnel, spoke to Howard about blocking out loose talks from the Clippers, when they charged and tied the game he still resisted the temptation of bringing back the second best player in the league, he stuck to the five that understood the adjustments and they won the game, Harden supported and cheered the team from the bench clearly understanding the players on the court gave them the best option to win that game based on the tactics employed by Mchale.