NBA: The Warriors are back in the finals: It’s been more sovereign

The Golden State Warriors are in the finals for the fourth time in a row. But this time it took seven games to wrestle down the Houston Rockets. The individual class of the stars makes the difference at the end, but the glamour of past years has been lost for a while.

“That was one of the worst neighborhoods we ever played. But we’re only five points behind and finally have to pull ourselves together. Then I’m not worried.”

Steve Kerr was really pissed off after the first quarter his team had just played in an elimination game. The Warriors committed stupid fouls, handled the ball negligently and once again moved too little. The Rockets were quite different, showing everything that is needed in such a decision game.

At the rear end of the field they passionately defended, put massive pressure on their opponent and looked for the way to the basket in front. That Houston did not lead much higher was due to a series of misses from a distance, some of which were collected by P.J. Tucker and Clint Capela.

This continued in the second quarter, which made Draymond Green furious. When Houston had extended his lead to 14 points, Kerr took another time-out and the current defensive player of the year immediately took on Kevin Durant, who was duped several times by Tucker, who was more than one head smaller on the offensive board.

Houston seemed to buy the edge out of the favourites, even though Chris Paul was an essential player missing. Eric Gordon represented CP3 more than handsomely, but the problems caused by such a failure usually only become apparent at the back of the press. Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni tried a lot and even in Ryan Anderson and Joe Johnson, because of their weak defense, dust off seemingly unplayable players.

But in the first half they stood their man at least for a few minutes, which did not hide the fact that Houston showed first signs of tiredness. James Harden started strongly with 14 points in the first quarter, but then decreased brutally (2 points, 1/9 FG), almost all of his finishes were short.

“We knew they would get tired at some point,” Durant analysed. “James was dribbling so much, it was clear he’d run out of strength. “We were able to take advantage of it on the other side.”

Without Paul another ball handler was missing, which would have been so important for the isolation-heavy play of the Texans. Harden had a usage rate of 37.3 per cent in game 7, while the Warriors, on the other hand, distributed the offensive load onto the shoulders of their four All-Stars.

This was particularly noticeable in the second half, which Harden admitted bluntly. “We just didn’t have the same energy and pace we had in the first half. This is extremely frustrating,” summed up the prospective MVP.

Frustration was particularly widespread in the third quarter, the period in which the Warriors won the series. The champion outscored the Rockets over the series with 64 points and won the sections after the break with +67.

It was no different in game 7. With 33:15, the Warriors won the third quarter and took away the energy left over from the hosts after a long season. Houston struggled with missing or false whistles at this stage, but in principle, the D’Antoni troupe had to grab their own noses.

The refs had a clear line and said that they let a lot of contact go through – on both sides. This apparently threw the Rockets out of concept a bit, who on the one hand did not close as efficiently as in the first run at the ring and on the other hand did not hit a barn door from a distance anymore.

None of the 14 triples went through the cage in the third quarter – even though most of the litters were completely free. “We had a good chance, but the ball just wouldn’t go in. We could have generated momentum with it,” D’Antoni was annoyed.

With a total of 27 missed longballs in a row, however, the question of a plan B must also be asked. The Rockets didn’t have it that night, however, instead the hectic pace spread, punishing a team like Golden State like no other. More misses also meant more transition for the dubs.

Stephen Curry, who hadn’t played a bad game before, but didn’t get a chance as usual, blossomed there. Suddenly the offense was flowing again and the ball was running like clockwork, so Curry got some completely free threesomes in the corners, which he can use with dream-walking certainty.

In the end, Curry scored 7 triples for a total of 27 points, feeling at least ten more, not least when the chef scored 11 Warriors points in a row. “Such things from him give us energy,” Kerr explained the Steph effect. “Durant can also score consistently, but when Steph or Klay run hot from a distance, our team is at its peak.”

The trio of Curry (7/15), Thompson (3/7) and Durant (5/11) scored 15 trios, 9 of them after the break. The Warriors’ offense was as dominant as last year, when only the Cleveland Cavaliers could win a match against this team from Oakland in the playoffs.

And yet, you have to pay respect to the Rockets for their performance. Even during the explosion of the guests, the Texans were able to achieve good looks time and again. A threesome here, a Miss of the Warriors there and Houston might have won this game without Paul.

Golden State will not care about this, at the end the fourth conference title and the next chance for another title, which would further underpin the Warriors dynasty. There are familiar faces waiting with Cleveland and LeBron James, even though this Cavs troupe is no longer the heavyweight of recent years.

If it goes after the betting providers, it should become a clear matter, the spread for game 1 is now 12 points, so clearly the providers have not seen since 2001, when the ShaKobe Lakers met the Philadelphia 76ers. At that time, the Sixers surprised the high favourites in their first clash, but still had to admit defeat after five games.

For a surprise – positive as well as negative – the Cavs are always good, also because Houston could uncover some weaknesses of the Warriors over the seven games. Especially the injury of Andre Iguodala, who could no longer participate after game 3 due to a knee injury, clearly showed how thin the dubs are on the wing and how limited the shooting is.

Just the fourth all-star, Draymond Green, had no touch at all against the Rockets and hit just 12 percent (2/17) of his threesomes. Over the entire playoffs, only four players scored more than one longball per game, showing once again that Golden State is not as deep as in the past.

Nevertheless: At the top it is still historically good and with so much talent it would be a big surprise if the NBA Champion 2018 is not called Golden State Warriors. But these playoffs have shown that the champion is quite vulnerable this year.