Happy Memorial Day, everybody. Thank you to the fallen. You gave your lives to protect the freedoms I enjoy in this country, and I will be forever grateful to you for that.
And speaking of Warriors…the Dubs did it. They did it!
A fourth straight Cavs/Warriors Finals it shall be. Golden State will enter the series heeaavvvyyyyy favorites…but let me tell you – do not take the series for granted. I won’t. I hope they don’t, because any team with LeBron on it is a potential championship team. For real, tho. And there ARE conditions in this Finals that mirror those of the 2016 3-1 Warriors meltdown: Steph is not as agile as he is when he’s healthy. There are other injuries, too, including a huge one in Andre Iguodala. AND…our bench is not that good.
Though, I will say this: the bench stepped up FINALLY in this series against the Rockets. They really, really struggled against CP3, but they handled their shit with the rest of the Houston lineup.
I’ll still pick the Warriors to win…but it’s not a foregone conclusion like so many would have you think. Already, the Cavs are in the Finals when nooooobody thought it was going to happen this year.
But, yeah. The Warriors did it.
I can’t believe it.
The game was ROUGH in the first half. Like…I’m not sure I’ve ever seen them play a playoff game that rough before. It was uuuugly. But, I freaking SWEAR to you…they half-did it on purpose.
By that I mean, I would bet dollars to donuts (mmm…donuts) that their strategy for this game was to have more left in the tank for the 2nd half of the game than the Rockets did, and the reason for that is clear: they knew CP3 wasn’t going to play. Without Chris Paul, their rotations bump all their other players up a notch into rolls they aren’t accustomed-to…and the Rockets ran out of GAS in Game 6. They had noooothing left.
So…the Warriors went out and played at less than 100% in the first half, knowing they needed to save their legs for the last two quarters. They didn’t hustle on boards, they didn’t move as much without the ball…they played it easy. Which, of course, made them look like SHIT.
But, then BAM, they come out in the 3rd quarter and then the 4th, and they are a COMPLETELY DIFFERENT TEAM. Like…everybody is playing better. And the Rockets couldn’t keep up. They ran out of energy again. It made them tired and desperate. That’s why they went 1 for 31 on 3s after 6:00 in the 2nd quarter — they didn’t have anything left in their tank. When your legs are tired, the shots don’t line up right…and the Warriors saved their legs for the 3rd and 4th to win the game.
I hated watching it play out that way. I was ready to throw in the towel…except for the fact that the Rockets never fully capitalized on the Warriors abominable play – they most they ever went up was 15, and at the half, they were only up by 11 (almost by 9, save for a ridiculous last-second drive to the hoop that the Dubs never should have let happen).
Anywho, today was a great day!
I got up early as I’d wanted to, and I got to write as much as I’d wanted to! Almost 1,500 words this morning!
That made me soooo less stressed for us to then go out and do an escape room in Hollywood. It was my first, and it was SO FUN. Our theme was “Pharoh’s Tomb” and we solved it! We got out! I didn’t realize that these rooms had such low solution rates. Pharoh’s tomb was one of the easiest ones they had, and it gets solved at a 38% rate 😛
So, that was awesome, and then we went and had sandwiches down the street.
I tried to take a nap twice today and pretty much failed. I was too wired about the game.
Now…it’s time for sleep, and it’s back to writing tomorrow. I have a book to finish!
Artwork tonight is from Tibor Csernus.