Stephen A. and Max react to Warriors defeating Rockets in Game 7 | First Take | ESPN 

Shooting less than 16% from 3s in a game 7 is called choking.

It’s perfectly understandable that everybody is complaining about the refs. However, you can't win a game missing 27 three pointers in a row.

The Rockets shot 7 of 44 (16%) from 3pt and got the nerve to blame the refs!!!....FOH!

Wont lie, if Paul was on the floor they wouldn't have went 0-27. But this doesnt excuse the Rockets. After ten missed 3s they should have attacked the paint. How can you keep trying 27 times in a row? You had a 12 point lead, hit 2s! Harden is not worthy of MVP. This was an embarrassment. #NotEvenAWarriorsFan

Steph Curry from 3 game7 : 7 for 15 Rockets from 3 game7 : 7 for 44 😂

Live by the 3, die by the 3 ...

Sighhhhh. So let me get this right: when the Warriors beat the Rockets without CP3, they got lucky. But when LeBron beats a young inexperienced Celtics team, that proves his greatness. So he didn't luck out with their two best players out......... Ok

Max doesn’t mention iggy at all cuz he knows damn well warriors would win when both teams are healthy

Max gave the Rockets Bad luck with picking the Rockets just like the Raptors and Celtics lol

Post again, didnt Rockets lose by 41 and down 1-2 in the series when both Chris Paul and Iggy played? Warriors lost by a possession to Rockets with CP3 in G4&G5 without Iggy under terrible execution. They won by 41 29 13 & 9, close to 100pts, let that sink in. I mean Rockets definitely showed they could play and I love 'em for their tenacity, but ppl need to stop.

The warriors beat Houston by an average of 23 points this series. In the first 2 games GS won that CP3 played in they beat them by an average of 27 In the games CP3 and Iggy were out, 6 and 7, an average of 14 In the games they won with Iggy playing, 1 and 3, they beat them by avg 27 The rockets won their 3 games by an average of 9.5 points. In the game They won when Iggy played they won by 22. In the two games they won when Iggy was out ,4 and 5, they won by 3 and 4 points, with Chris Paul playing (average 3.5). So no using Chris Paul was out isn't a good excuse since the numbers show that they lost by almost 2x as much with him IN the lineup than without and that Iggy not playing was much more important as GS was beating them on avg by 27 than the 9 when CP3 was playing

So the Warriors were lucky when they beat the Rockets by 41? The Rockets have a hard on for the Warriors and under perform when needed every time. James Harden is a diva who just wants to score and CP3 is brittle built.

I don’t wanna keep hearing about these refs. Yes they missed calls. But the rockets choked and folded under pressure. Especially Harden. You miss 27 straight 3’s in a row and Harden was no where to be found in the fourth!

LeBron James Dream Team to face the Warriors SF:LeBron James PG:Black Panther C:The Incredible Hulk PF:Goku SG: Dwyane Wade 😍 😍

They were lucky because rockets played bad and warriors capitalized? what is wrong with people. Warriors handed rockets their worst loss in playoff playoff history when cp 3 was playing. If you want to be ignorant, i can be ignorant too and say there wouldnt have been a game 7 if iggy wasnt injured.

Sometimes, Max, you sound silly AF. This is one of those times. Warriors were lucky? Houston started the series at home while Curry was limited and on a minutes restriction. They still went down 2-1. Then, they didn't have to play against Andre Iguodala the rest of the way. Had Iguodala played, this would have been over in 5. But sure, they lose CP in Games 6 and 7 so I suppose it was all Warriors that got lucky and the Rockets saw no luck at all to get to where they ended up. Give me a break, Max. Please. Give me a damn break.

The 2018 NBA Finals ended last night: Golden State Warriors defeat Houston Rockets 4-3 💯💯💯

Has Max got a prediction right this playoffs?

there's always some luck in every championship run. ALWAYS!

Legend says Max Kellerman is still saying the Warriors are lucky when they beat the rockets 4-2 with no Durant and all the Rockets are healthy including cp3......smh😂

Max cmon man, so we can also say houston was lucky cause Iguodala also didn't play. Iggy becomes superman in play off

I don't see how they were lucky. Prior to Iggy getting injured they were up 2-1, and beat the Rockets by 41 points WITH CP3 on the floor. Iggy goes down, defense is a bit out of wack, Rockets come back. Warriors still player terrible game 7, both teams did. You can't say luck when you give up two home games. They talk about missed shots, every shot they show have a hand in their face lol. Max is dumb.

Is it just me or do people have some lame excuse EVERY TIME their team loses? The Rockets lost because their bullshit finally caught up with them. All they've done all season is shoot 3s and draw cheap fouls. That might work against the scrubs, but you're not getting past the Warriors playing like that.

I've just got into NBA as from the UK and I have to say I have never known so many bad losers in one sport. Seriously bunch of cry babies. If one team plays poorly then it's not unlucky it's just that they are terrible especially mentally. The Rockets just choked. Simple as that.

Honestly, who tf misses 25+ in a row? A lot of those were open. Cp3 going down affected that in a way since he would have controlled the pacing and type of shots the rockets would get. He would have also given curry a much harder time shooting. This does not however explain how gassed the Rockets were and how they missed those 3s. Had they made at least 20% of those shots, they would have won

I wanted the Rockets to win this series. When they took a 3 - 2 lead on them, I said they were gonna win the series but deep down I knew something was gonna happen that would prevent us from winning. CP3 getting hurt, The horrible shooting in Game 7 and arguably the refs in game 7. Very frustrating times to be a Rocket fan.

Max is right here. Warriors were gifted no cp3 for the rockets and the rockets going 1 for 30 from 3

Warriors aren't lucky, they're just BLESSED!

For those who always use that tired argument that the warriors were lucky every season, keep in mind.. 2015: Yes Kyrie and Love were injured. But after the first 3 games, EVERYONE said Delly LOCKED down Steph and the series was over (which is ridiculous) and Delly tired himself out and was never the same again after game 3 when the cavs took the advantage. So the warriors would've been trash if they lost but they're lucky because they fought back? 2016: Steph Curry gets injured in the first round and doesn't come back until the end of the second round. The nba suspends draymond at the worst time, along with Iguadala, Thompson, and Bogut all being injured during games 5-7. The warriors lose game 5 because Kyrie goes off on a hampered defense and the cavs get an extra home game which leads to a game 7 where momentum clearly shifted, and the warriors didn't even get blown out in game 7, they just choked at the end. But the cavs weren't lucky at all right? 2017: Y'all act like one game in the WCF was gonna win the series. Even if Kawhi never got hurt and won game one, you'd be foolish to think the Spurs would do that in 4 straight games to the warriors. And as for the finals, everybody was finally healthy with no suspensions and GS showed why they were the better team. Steph vs Kyrie, Klay vs JR, KD vs Lebron, and Green vs Love. I don't wanna hear about GS being overpowered because that's a contradiction. It's always 4 stars when they win because draymond's a beast but when GS loses, draymond is a overrated donkey.. make up your minds.. KD just outplayed Lebron and his triple double and won in 5 fair in square

Lebron beats up on a injured celtics team missing their two best players and led by a rookie Unbelievable!! Better than Jordan !!The greatest basketball player of all time!! The King!!. We are witnessing greatness Warriors beat rockets team missing their SECOND best player for final 2 games Overrated..Lucky.. can’t beat a healthy team

I love Max 😂🤣 always make me laugh 😆

0:20 pause and look at the lines above Max's brows. Stare at it for 5 seconds and Max turns into Frankenstein 😂😂😂

It's game 7, you don't take 27 straight 3's when you are missing. Shitting coaching. No leader to change shit up...

is it the warriors fault tht houston decided to bet on a player who's injury prone #cp3?? they lost game 6 with cp3 on the field....give me a break

Well Max, I guess we have the answer now. We know what happens with a HEALTHY FULLY MAXED-OUT HOUSTON TEAM vs the Warriors. They LOSE. Please nobody ever raise this tired argument again about how Houston would have won with a healthy Chris Paul. No, no they would not have.

Looking back to this video after the warriors just won in 6 games with KD not playing, is unbelievable

So it’s lucky if the other team couldn’t make threes are you kidding me!!!!!!!!!

Max kellerman is terrible lol 😂😂😂😂

MAN THIS GUY STEVEN A - love listening to his comments - he is so articulate

Hilarious how serious they are haha

Thank you god for making all of Max’s predictions be wrong. He said the raptors would come out of the east, wrong, said the rockets would win the west,wrong. Thank you God Thank you

Did max really say lucky ? Lol ariza had 0 points in 41 minutes and they went 7/44 from 3 cp3 yea he’s a difference but warriors dont have they 6th man lol

Ever notice both the guys get louder and louder when they try to make a point lol

At 2:27 the look on Stephen A’s face was I’m about to shut you down!!

So if cp3 plays rockets might win in 6 or 7 but on the other hand if iguodala plays warriors win in maybe 5 🤷🏿‍♂️

Warriors have Andre this shit is over in 5

Steph was awesome and maintained good poise to lead his Dubs to victory, Durant was key to in 2nd half, experience really helped the Dubs, Rockets could not hit their shots in 2nd half, they looked nervous and anxious

The rockets gained a fan in me this series. Die hard heat fan, but you know there’s always that second team you go for. A lot of heart and bad luck, they weren’t even supposed to go that far.

So SAS doesn't wanna hear the word Lucky from Max, while that's the word SAS has been living by when it comes to talking about LBJ

Rockets choked so hard I thought I was watching a porno flick

CP is always hurt when it matters the most. That is his legacy on every team he's ever played for.

RU-vid: You're a bad dude to make me sit thought a 30 second ad to watch this.

If people are going to complain about the refs, then do it completely for the entire series when Steph and Klay were being clutched, held and knocked down without calls as well. Just sayin'. This narrative about the Warriors being lucky is sort of pathetic and tired. The narrative about the Warriors in 2015 was they got "lucky" because they didn't face the Spurs and Kyrie got hurt. They choked in 2016 blowing a 3-1 lead in the finals but no one said once that maybe is Steph hadn't come back from injury things might've been different. Last year, everyone screamed how it was unfair that Durant joined the team but no one spoke about how the added money to the salary cap (which all teams got) affected that situation. So this year, the Warriors are now "lucky" because CP3 injured himself and was unable to play in either Game 6 or Game 7. No one mentions that Igoudala was injured in Game 3 and missed the rest of the series for the Warriors. No mention that the Warriors had a short summer and very truncated training camp. No mention that the Warriors were already in luxury tax and had to lose some key role players before the season (Ian Clark to the Pels, McAdoo to the Sixers) or that they nursed injuries all season long while trying to defend their 2017 title. Remember -- the Rockets were "built to beat the Warriors" but that didn't happen. Yes, the Rockets had some bad luck but, conversely, the Warriors played excellent defense in the second half of both games 6 and 7. You cannot deny that defense played a major part in being outscored both of those games 120-63 in the second half. But the Warriors got "lucky".

Shit starting to feel like a twilight zone episode....Same damn teams every year

Yo c'mon even Andre didn't play the last 4 games for the Dubs. You got to stop dissing on the Warriros man.

EACH GAME. EACH QUARTER. EACH POSSESSION. EACH HALF. EACH SERIES HAS IT"S OWN LIFE. YOU DO WITH IT WHAT YOU WILL & CAN. DON'T MAKE EXCUSES!!!

No. Thats not lucky. Its not the warriors fault if the rockets continue needing to shoot 3s knowingly they keep missing. They could settle for mid range shots or drive to the basket.

🗣Please keep crying I'm loving it Max 🤣

Stephen A. has turned into Skip "Baseless" hahaahah

Stephen a cracks me up with he's comebacks to max lol

The Houston Rockets should be ashamed of themselves they lose the lead then go 0-27 from downtown before making one and the head coach got nerve to say "we're almost there" we'll be back next year. Mike should be fired after that abysmal performance 0-27 and at no point he didnt change the fucking game plan!

harden + cp3 = choke artist plus injury prone and max think thats winning element? how the fk do people still listen to this guy

It was all the above...im a Houston fan...but bad luck and GS heart both played the part...great series...if this is the West finals for the next couple yrs...we should all be so luck

You still think they're lucky now that they just defeated Houston again without durant?

GS was not lucky because 1) yes cp3 got injured but him being there doesn’t automatically get them to the finals and cp3 is known to get injured when his team needs him most 2) obviously Iggy isn’t as good as cp3 but he’s very valuable to the warriors and one could argue if he doesn’t get hurt then the series doesn’t even go 7 games and warriors don’t choke games 4 and 5 3) warriors didn’t make the rockets shoot that bad , the rockets did that to themselves , the warriors showed up and the rockets didn’t . 4) harden choked and yes he doesn’t have cp3 but if you’re the MVP you’re supposed to get it down no excuses you don’t get a pass because the warriors didn’t get a pass when they were all injured and blew a 3-1 lead . 5) Max is only saying this because he picked the rockets and he’s let down . 6) injuries happen get over it .

Max is absolutely right. Missing 27 in a row is a statistical anomoly. Warriors were extremely lucky.

The fact of the matter is, no matter how it went we ended up in the same position we've been in for the last few years. This was supposed to be a "very different season"

Is it only me but why does espn only upload short snippets of first take. Like really bro

I've told people this before. When you are James Harden and you collapse after every single 3, refs realize this and begin to call less fouls . In game 6 he had two 3's where nobody touched him and he got free throws on both. You think this didn't have anything to do with the no calls in game 7?

I recorded that game just so I could watch them lose again.

The complete opposite of the finals matchup I wanted 😂

A few of Max Kellerman's pick for these playoffs... Thunder over Jazz T'Blazers over Pelican Pelican over Warrior Sixers over Celtics Raptors over Cavs Celtics over Cavs Rocket over Warriors How can one person be so wrong so many times and still thinks his opinion is gold.

The Warriors are a better team. Without the refs the series would be over at game 5. The refs were slanted towards the Rockets. Other people for other NBA teams saw this. I was at a sports restaurant with others they were booing the refs in game 4 and then 5. This is a fact it seems it is still true if the Rockets don't get to the free throw line a number of times they lose. The first points for the Rockets last night was at the free throw. The Warriors didn't get into the bonus until the last seconds of the game. Klay had terrible fouls called on him early. They are the same Rockets. They're a good team. Fact if not for the refs the Warriors win in 5. What does it say that for a team to win they have to be at the FT line so many times?

They would’ve lost with CP3 no difference

I never thought I’d see the day that the warriors are the most hated team in the league. Come a long way from those 17-65 teams. #warriorsvseverybody

Max whether it was luck or skill you can't take anything away from the warriors. Appreciate greatness

What’s the problem here? This was a sorry series for the fans. Neither team was at full strength through out the entire series with the exceptions of games 1 & 2. Game 3 Igoudala got hurt. The rockets won games 4 & 5 buy a margin of less than 10 points for both games combined. Those games could’ve easily been won had the warriors had Igoudala who was averaging 7.9 points per game. And he’s a way better defender then looney or bell are currently. His veteran experience was missed on the floor in those games. So you could argue that the warriors could’ve potentially had a 3-1 lead heading into game 6. Now Chris Paul missing is more detrimental for the rockets then warriors losing Igoudala; cause Paul plays a more important role on their team, but I think you could honestly call this a wash. The people who lost out were the fans who potentially have to wait until next year to find out who the better team is, due to all the injuries this series

Oh come on. Someone's really hating the Warriors. 😕 So disappointing the Golden State can't get respect from others.

can someone please tell me one time since 2014 when the warriors won a championship or reached the finals fare and square?

Both Houston and Boston died by the 3 point shot in their game seven eliminations.

Houston was lucky that Iguodala had been out for the last four games.

Oh so LeBron wasn't lucky Max???! GTFOH!! No wonder why Stephen A doesn't respect you when it comes to basketball Max was in CYA mode

Lol the end of this video explains everybody who picked the rockets

My season watching the NBA just ended. I can't stomach another Cavs vs Warrior Finals. I Was really looking forward seeing any one else in the finals.

AGAIN Max chooses to gloss over the facts that GS is top heavy as well and was missing one of their best players for the last 3 games. Not to mention all of the missing players they had in the finals 2 years ago when they lost. Doesn't matter to Max though he would never let facts get in the way of his biased failing argument.

This was a great series , the rockets are just bad missed 27 3s lol they had it in the bag they just choked. But I still don’t get why people say the warriors ruined the NBA as we’ve seen that their easily beatable and their the ones who had to force a game 7 @ Houston lol , the Odds were on Houston’s side and I’m pretty sure most people had Houston winning the series , not to mention the warriors were down 15 but of course you guys say that the warriors ruined the Nba when the warriors win. You guys are just petty, and making excuses.

"I only know boxing and weed strains !" - Max Kellerman

The rims are magnetized.

Lucky? Rockets should have never lost game one Warriors beat them fair and square

Warriors sweeping Cavaliers. Klay wins Finals MVP

As a Suns fan I thought I couldn't be more depressed

There's no such thing as luck is called being blessed Max........ go warriors

Stephen a said Lebron was lucky now warriors not lucky surprise surprise

I'm a Warriors fan. We got LUCKY!!!! I couldn't believe how much they were missing!!

Max is the same guy who said Toronto was going to beat Cleveland even though they were down 2-0 and lost home court advantage lol

In last night's game, Houston missed 27 consecutive shots from three-point range before finally getting one to fall midway into the fourth quarter. This historically epic chokejob, along with the absence of Houston's best playmaker and floor general Chris Paul, has provoked claims that "luck" was the driving force behind Golden State's series-clinching victory. Meanwhile, during Sunday night's game 7 matchup between Cleveland and Boston, the Celtics went 7 of 39 from three point range, and ultimately lost by eight, despite holding the Cavs to 87 points. Houston lost by 9 points last night, despite a 32 point scoring effort from James Harden. So here's the million dollar question: why aren't we calling LeBron James "lucky" for getting past the Celtics on Sunday? Instead, the media continues to heap praise on James as if he didn't squeak past an inexperienced Celtics team without its best player in Kyrie Irving (not to mention they were totally ineffective shooting from the outside during Sunday's game like Houston was last night). So let's recap ... according to certain "basketball analysts," the Warriors have luck to thank for reaching the Finals this year. Meanwhile, James' road to the big dance - for an eighth consecutive year - has been paved with rose pedals and cotton candy, but he's never been accused of "luck". Seems like a double standard. Why is he judged by a different standard than everyone else?

Curry>any other Guard PG or SG @me

There is absolutely no excuse for how many 3's the Rockets missed in a row.... 27, and some of them were wide open and that is exactly why we lost... BUT that was some of the worst officiating I have seen in a long time. That 3rd quarter the refs didnt call a damn thing there were 2 fouls on Harden and a foul on Gordon, and a clear as day moving screen on the Warriors and before you guys get mad if you were watching the game live even the commentators (Reggie) were saying "how was that not a foul?" Or "why didnt they call that moving screen" In short no excuse for missing 27 3's but refs started the HUGE momentum change in the 3rd quarter

Why does SAS have to insult Max like that everytime he speaks, lol?

Being tired b/c of a shorter rotation has a lot to do with tired legs on defense and missing shots.