Many championship contenders have fallen so far, the top two seeds for each conference was relatively a predictable affair for the Eastern Conference top two seeds, Atlanta Hawks and Cleveland Cavaliers, for the Western Conference a completely different story, coming out with a 67 win, and surprising most, the Golden State Warriors take their place next to the Houston Rockets.
The Houston team after battling the Clippers and taking the lead after a 3-3 tie that left the LA team behind thinking what they did wrong, – we all know- despite being a solid team throughout the season they don’t have what it takes to advance and earn that ticket to the finals, in the other hand this year’s top four seeds all have a completely solid record from start to finish or in the Golden State Warriors case, a mission.
Golden State a three pointer force, Stephen Curry with an avg. 28 points per game so far and for the past ten games a whopping 46 three-pointers and Klay Thompson on the head of the spear, a -some say- come back from the team which hasn’t been in Conference Finals in 39 years, their defensive line will set them apart for the game against yet another three pointer force, with James Harden incredible dribble skills and averaging just under 27 points with 8 assists to his name, the regular season saw the Rockets go 0-4 against the Warriors, then again, we have seen Houston going against all odds and coming back from the dead in the playoffs against the Clippers with an inspiring three game resurrection, with an unhealthy team the Rockets might have to struggle for this upcoming first game on Tuesday.
Now for the Hawks beautiful team basketball we saw on regular season with sixty victories all well deserved, for the playoffs almost a completely different disposition for the injury-ridden team, with both Paul Millsap and Al Horford shoulder and dislocated pinky, respectively, and with Kyle Korver slump, now thanks to DeMarre Carroll with 17.1 points per game and 43.9 percent shooting from 3-point range, we see them going against Cleveland Cavaliers.
The Cleveland Cavaliers struggled on their playoffs, with Kevin Love out since first round against the Celtics, Kyrie Irving still battling his knee and ankle injuries and Lebron James having trouble with his shot, the Cavaliers got past the Bulls, thanks to praiseworthy performances from the likes of Timofey Mozgov, Tristan Thompson, Matthew Dellavedova and Iman Shumpert, the Cleveland team with no Finals ticket since 2007, if it wasnt for the heavily injured players an easy feat to accomplish this year.
