Do Rockets have a chance against the Warriors?

The past couple of games for the Rockets and Warriors have been pretty crazy.

 For the Rockets, in Game 3, they came away with a win, but then got completely blown out in Game 4. They also lost Patrick Beverly because of an injury.

On the Warriors side, they devastatingly lost Game 3 because of a last second James Harden shot.

 Then, in Game 4, the Warriors win the game, but Stephen Curry gets injured again. He will be out for at least two weeks.

That will be enough time for the Rockets to remove that cushion they gave the Warriors. But the question is, do the Rockets even have what it takes to beat a Warrior team that is already great without Stephen Curry? I do not think they can. Here why.

 Defense

The Rockets have to close out on shooters much quicker. Pretty much everybody on the Warriors                   [ except centers ] are good three point shooters. In Game 4, the Rockets were getting killed from beyond the arc. Draymond Green and Klay Thompson were on fire in the second half, after Curry left the game. When Curry was out, there were more opportunities for other guys to score, and especially Klay Thompson got to show everybody how good of a shooter he was. Guys like Leandro Barbosa and Dwight Clark really showed what they could do towards the end of Game 4. The thing is with the Warriors, if one guy gets injured, the next man can step up. That's why they're the best team in the league. And the Rockets couldn't stop them. Everybody was knocking down threes for the Warriors.
Now that the Rockets have lost Patrick Beverly, it gives them less of a boost on defense and offense, but specifically defense, because a lot of the energy on defense comes from him.

Rebounding

The Rockets big men have to work harder on getting rebounds. Too often, the Warriors have gotten second chance points and that has been hurting the Rockets. Dwight Howard and Clint Capela need to work harder.

Missed Opportunities

The Rockets need to be able to finish off plays on fast breaks. A couple of times in Game 4, the Rockets were on a fast break but couldn't convert on layups. If you want to beat a team like the Warriors, you have to do all of those little things. They end up making a big difference.

Comment below on who you think will win this series.

Keys for the Hornets in Game 4 against Miami

The Charlotte Hornets are coming off a much-needed win against the Miami Heat to make the series 2-1, still in Miami's favor. The Hornets got a lot of help from Jeremy Lin and Kemba Walker. They also played game three without Nicolas Batum and still won. And once again, they will be playing at home. Here are three keys to winning for the Hornets in Game 4.

1. Get Jeremy Lin, and other guys coming off the bench involved

In game three, Jeremy Lin had 18 points and four assists. Also, Frank Kaminsky, who replaced Nicolas Batum in game three, had 15 points and 6 rebounds. The Hornets have to get those guys involved to win the game. It can't just be Kemba Walker trying to do it all by himself, or Al Jefferson waiting for the ball to come to him in the post. The ball has to move around a lot.

2. Play well collectively on defense

The Hornets have had trouble on helping on defense. On pick and rolls with Hassan Whiteside, the Hornets have been doubling the ball handler and leaving Hassan Whiteside wide open. The next Hornet is too late to rotate and Hassan Whiteside gets an easy dunk. The Hornets need to start defending the paint better and helping each other out on defense.

3. Take high quality shots

The Heat have a great defense and the Hornets are not going to get past all of their great defenders with keeping the ball in Kemba Walker's hands until the shot clock runs down and they have to put up a bad shot. Look to get the ball in the post to Al Jefferson sometimes but not always because then the Heat will start doubling the ball. The Hornets need to have a well balanced offense. There is also more scoring opportunities for other guys on the team since Nicolas Batum won't be playing, so the Hornets should take advantage of that.