Jason Terry has never wanted for confidence.
The Houston Rockets are down 3-1 in their first-round series against the Golden State Warriors, so they enter Wednesday’s Game 5, at Oracle Arena, in win-or-go-home-for-good mode.
Terry, per Calvin Watkins, has guaranteed a win:
Jason Terry guaranteed the Rockets will Game 5. Plans on getting a tattoo of the NBA trophy if they win the… https://t.co/Oqe3udiETO
— Calvin Watkins (@calvinwatkins) April 26, 2016
Okay then.
All NBA players are this confident—or close to it. That’s why they are in the NBA, playing at this level, on a national stage.
But the Rockets haven’t earned the benefit of the doubt. They have been painstakingly inconsistent all year. There is no guarantee they prolong this series. They couldn’t close out the Warriors in Game 4 after Stephen Curry went down; there is no reason to suspect they’ll turn things around when facing elimination on the road in Game 5.
At the same time, with Curry on the sidelines anything can really happen. The Warriors’ offensive rating plummets when he isn’t on the floor, according to NBA.com, leaving them wholly reliant on deploying a strong defense. If the Rockets can figure out how to muster up some consistent offensive pressure, they will have a shot at stealing another victory and forcing a Game 6, even if their defense remains imperfect.
Guaranteeing a win is nevertheless bold and borderline stupid. There isn’t anything Jason Terry can point to as evidence that the Rockets have their entire act together.
Even without Curry on the court, Golden State is more likely to close out the series than Houston is to delay its inevitable first-round exit.
