BELIEF BEATS HOPE. PEDIGREE MATTERS. True.One of the truisms of teams sports is that the toughest thing to do is repeat as champions. Whether it is NFL, MLB, NHL or the NBA there is a lot of truth to that. It has a lot to do with money, egos, injuries, the long regular season, luck and a hundred other little factors. But in this decade we have seen that once you get to the post-season, greatness, belief and having been there before makes a difference. Being very good is not enough. You can hate the Patriots, but Tom Brady's performance in Super Bowl after Super Bowl transcends the sport. He always rises to the occasion. In the NBA, we have seen LeBron carry teams to championships. And we also have the Golden State Warriors.

The arrival of KD, and their over-whelming talent advantage, took away from much of what made that franchise so special in the first place. It is much more than great marksmanship. There is certainly great defense, particularly from Klay and Draymond. But since they first emerged, there has been a belief and spirit that makes the Warriors almost unbelievable. they can rain down a flurry of threes. They can get steals and run down your throat. Or they can destroy your offense.

Portland has played 2 great halves of basketball in this series. Not good. Not very good. G-R-E-A-T. Unfortunately not in the same game. And also not good enough to put Golden State away. The Blazers thought they could win. They hoped they could win. But they never truly believed they could win. Little cracks started to show. Missed free throws. They slipped from superior defense, to suddenly making mistakes. They were taking care of the ball, then suddenly there were a couple of turnovers. They built a game plan, then weren't quite good enough to counter when the Warriors adjusted and blew it up.

This was well beyond x's and o's. This was about a confidence that really spoke of arrogance on one side of the court versus wishes and hopes on the other. What little belief Portland had about themselves got snuffed in each of the last 2 3rd quarters.

DRAYMOND GREEN WAS A BASKETBALL GOD TONIGHT. True.如果绿色能对他的意志强加在这样的游戏in the finals, it doesn't matter if Boogie or KD return. We know all about his flaws, but we saw all of the things he is great at in this game. But mostly it was one simple thing: Push the ball up the court with pace and make something happen. Even as Portland built there large lead in the first half, Draymond flew up the court like he was in turbo made while the Blazers were in slo-mo. It was maddening to watch. He wanted to get up the court more than any single Blazer wanted to stop him. He scored baskets. Green dropped dimes. He kept the Warriors in the game when the rest of the team seemed okay with conceding the game to the home team. His impact went wall beyond the stats, although those were awesome: 20, 13 and 12, with 4 steals. He forced his teammates to join him in stepping on the throats of the Blazer offense. The Warriors compete with line-ups without a true shot-blocker on the court, but there was a force field around the rim in the 2nd half.

Green is not the most likeable guy. He also gets carried to great places despite some real holes in his offensive attack. But he has never looked more valuable than he did tonight.

PORTLAND CAN WIN WITHOUT DAME OR CJ PLAYING WELL. No. They can't.The 2 Blazer stars were a combined 5-16 in the first half, yet Portland had a 13 point lead. Stotts made some huge moves that were working well: Leonard for Kanter in the starting line-up. Giving big opportunities to the reserves. Working the 3 on 2 behind the trap. The gimmicks were paying off.

But there are reasons why Meyers doesn't play 30 minutes a night. Ditto for Curry. They can have great success in small doses in the right situations. But in the long run over a whole season you don't count so heavily on those 2. And in the biggest game of the season they got exposed the longer they were on the court.

Is Dame injured? It sounds like it. At some point, Portland was going to need their stars to be great. Some meaningless hoops late disguised how far from great Dame and CJ were tonight. 48 minutes is a long, long time, and Portland does not have enough talent on their roster to overcome the failure of their stars.

最终成绩:今晚deja vu all over again. All the home court in the world couldn't pull this one out. The champions played like champs. And when the game and season hit its most crucial point, Portland played like chumps. Watching Meyers play his best game as a Blazer for a little over a half was thrilling. Watching him and the rest of the Blazers come crashing back to Earth was not. Maybe Portland can petition the league to play 24 minute games. Draymond and the Warriors sucked the soul out of Portland tonight like an awful horror movie. 50% on Rotten Tomatoes for the effort and a D for the game.