Warriors fear the Beard even more

THE GOLDEN State Warriors escaped with a 99-98 win over the Houston Rockets last night.

Victory wasn’t pretty, but the Warriors, who also held off the Rockets, 110-106, Tuesday night are now two games away from winning the NBA Western Conference Finals. They will take a 2-0 lead when the best-of-seven series switches to Houston for Games 3 and 4.

Golden State is heavily favored to win the West but has not lived up to Las Vegas predictions. The team is also emptying the pockets of bettors for failing to cover the point spreads against Houston.

That’s reason enough for Warrior fans, who filled Oracle Arena to the rafters for a record 130th consecutive sellout last night,  not to get all goosebumpy yet.

They have James Harden, aka the Beard to fear the rest of the series. The gutsy Rockets led by Harden had been staying close.

Last night, with the Warriors up by one point, anxiety turned to assurance at Oracle Arena only in the last 6.9 seconds of the game when the Beard swarmed by Stephen Curry and Klen Thompson failed to get off a shot.

Harden finished with 38 points, nine rebounds and nine assists, compared to Curry’s 33 points and six assists for the Warriors.

In their matchup last Tuesday, Curry this season’s league MVP had 34 points while runner-up Harden, had 28 points, six rebounds, five assists and two steals.

The Rockets are not the least bit worried because they’ve been in a jam before.

Down 1-3 to the Los Angeles Clippers, Houston gave further credence to the notion that basketball is a game of runs.

The Rockets overhauled that deficit to score a stunning 4-3 comeback over the ill-fated Clippers and earn a ticket to the Western Finals and the prospect of winning their third NBA crown. They owned the Larry O’Brien trophy two years in a row in 1994-1995.

The Warriors, who are enjoying their best season in years, last won the NBA title in 1975.

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A reunion was bittersweet last Saturday for the so-called “lost-and-found boys of Philippine basketball” based in the United States.

The event welcomed three out-of-towners and marked the 83rd birthday of Rome Olympian Emilio “Jun” Achacoso—the elder statesman of the band of former players in the college, commercial and pro circuits.

The get-together at the house of Cado Rivera in Eastvale, California, also turned into a celebration of the life of former PBA and San Miguel legend Ernesto “Estoy” Estrada, who died of a heart attack the same day. He was 65.

Estrada was supposed to drive from Daly City to be with the gang but begged off days earlier.

“There was subdued joy at seeing each other because of the news of Estoy’s demise,” said Rene Canent, the fleet-footed Yco and Tanduay point guard called The Chairman in his playing days.

Aside from Canent and Achacoso, Rivera and his wife Susan hosted Crispa star William “Bogs” Adornado who is visiting from Manila; former player and Ginebra coach Rino Salazar, now a resident of Alaska; ex-Toyota standout Abe King who lives in Gig Harbor, Washington; and erstwhile heartthrobs Bernard Fabiosa, Cris Calilan, Eric Leano, Joel Gomez, Danny Manalastas, Ted McKinney, Bobot Salas and John Brad.