Now I’m not sure if I’ll ever be able to understand this one or if anyone will ever be able to explain it to me, but I guess it’s just how sports goes some time. Maybe you’ll be able to enlighten me in the comments.
After warming up in pre-game the San Antonio Spurs decided to hold Kawhi Leonard out of their Game 6 match up against the Houston Rockets, Remember Leonard twisted an ankle in the Spurs Game 5 win and was considered a game time decision coming into Game 6. Now the Spurs did have a game in hand as they where up three games to two coming into Game 6 and they would play a Game 7 on their home court. Now with everything looking to be lined up for the Rockets to go out and get a win and force a Game 7; what happens. San Antonio goes out and not only wins the game, but blows Houston out by 39 points 114-75. Now remember the Spurs did this without what many experts believe is the best two-way player in the NBA in Leonard, but they’re also missing starting point guard Tony Parker.
Now as I’m wondering how this happened I started looking into the box score for answers. Of course what jumps right out is the terrible night James Harden had. Harden was 2 for 11 shooting on the night; added into that was the 2 for 9 from behind the 3-point line. Not only did Harden have an off night shooting the basketball he also had 6 turnovers in the game and ended up fouling out. Harden is the Rockets best player and an M.V.P. candidate so we’re going to look at him first in a loss like this, but he wasn’t the only reason Houston lost. The Rockets went 22 for 77 (28.6%) from the field in the game and actually shot a better percentage (32.5%) from behind the 3-point line going 13 for 40. Houston even had an off night from the free throw line going 18 for 25 or hitting 72% of their free throws.
Now the Rockets are the model of the new style of NBA play where a team will actually pass up and open 2-point shot to get a good look at a 3-pointer. I’m sure if you watched any of this series you heard someone use the term trading two’s for three’s; which is what the Rockets are willing to do with their offense. Now when they’re making their 3-point shots Houston is one of the toughest team in the NBA to beat. Just look at Game 1 a 126-99 win and Game 4 a 125-104 win. Of course when you’re not hitting your 3’s you get beat by 39 points and knocked out of the playoffs.
The Rockets are obviously building their team in the style of the Golden State Warriors who the Spurs will face in the Western Conference finals starting Sunday. What do you think the Rockets have to do to take the next step and be an NBA title contender?
Now we are going to get a Game 7 in this round of the playoffs, but it’s the Washington Wizards and the Boston Celtics who are going to give us that Game 7.
Now it took six games, but there was finally a close game in this series. John Wall hit a Game 6 winning 3-pointer with 3.5 seconds left to give Washington a 92-91 win and send this series to a Game 7. Wall jumped up on the scorers table, popped his jersey and yelled at his home fans as the game ended. Believe it or not this is the first game in this series that has been decided by less than 10 points.
In another bit of odd NBA scheduling these two teams will meet in Game 7 on Monday night. That means the Western Conference finals will already be underway before we know which one of these teams will move on to face the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference finals. The home team has won every game in this series; so you’d think the Celtics would have an advantage going into Game 7, but you never know.
The Western Conference finals in the NHL got started last night. It took overtime, but the Nashville Predators got a 3-2 win on the road over the Anaheim Ducks.
Jakob Silfverberg got the first goal of the series and gave Anaheim a 1-0 lead unassisted 5:15 into the 1st period. Nashville was able to tie the game at 1-1 at 12:34 of the period. Filip Forsberg scored the Predators goal with assists from Matthew Irvin and Ryan Johansen. Just 2:42 into the 2nd period the Predators took a 2-1 lead on a goal by Austin Watson. Watson was assisted by Johansen and Mattias Ekholm. That turned out to be the only goal of the 2nd period. Now there was only one goal scored in the 3rd period, but this time it was Anaheim who scored the goal to tie the game at 2-2. Hampus Lindholm scored with an assist from Nate Thompson with 7:21 gone in the 3rd period. John Gibson (Anaheim) and Pekka Rinne (Predators) didn’t let anything else into the net and we where headed to overtime. The game went 9:24 into overtime before P.K. Subban and Ekholm assisted on James Neal game winning goal to give Nashville a 3-2 Game 1 win and a one game to none lead in the series.
The series will stay in Anaheim for Game 2 on Sunday night while Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals starts tonight as the Pittsburgh Penguins host the Ottawa Senators.
If your a UFC fan it looks as though there will finally be a rematch between Jon Jones and Daniel Cormier. Officials announced on Friday that a light heavyweight title fight between Cormier and Jones to UFC 214 on July 29 in Anaheim, California.
Jones (22-1) defeated Cormier (19-1) in a light heavyweight title defense in January 2015. He never defended the belt again, however, as the UFC stripped him of the title later that year for legal reasons. Jones plead guilty to a hit-and-run in 2015. A rematch was originally scheduled in April 2016, but Cormier was forced to pull out with an injury. The matchup was rebooked to headline UFC 200 on July 9 in Las Vegas, but Jones was pulled from the event three days before due to a failed drug test. Cormier, who won the vacant title in 2015 and has defended it twice, admitted he is anxious Jones won’t make it to the fight again. He specifically brought up Jones’ history of cocaine use. Jones tested positive for cocaine prior to defeating Cormier in 2015.
UFC president Dana White, who did not attend the news conference, later said the 205-pound title fight will headline the pay-per-view event, which will take place at Honda Center. According to White, the UFC intends to book Jimi Manuwa on the card in case something happens with Jones. Manuwa’s opponent is to be determined.
Are you excited to see this rematch?
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