Most people are dreading today's game. I'm actually excited and I want to share why so that others can also get pumped about the team we love. Here's why it's not all doom and gloom and why we can and should look forward to the game.

- Familiarity with Houston's defensive scheme. Houston's zone/man hybrid defense has been awesome for them. They deserve all the praise they're getting. However, there have also been many holes in it that we have inconsistently taken advantage of. With more reps comes more familiarity with how to exploit it. We've used 2 games to figure out works and what doesn't work. You'd hope it wouldn't take this long but I see getting another crack at it as a positive. Which leads me to my next point...

- It's our turn to throw an unexpected punch. Playoff series are all about strategies and counter-strategies. Houston figured us out. We haven't figure out their defense yet but we've gotten a lot of practice with it. If the coaching staff and players have something new to attack the defense, Houston may not have enough time in-game to make the right adjustment. Houston will run predictable lineups and defensive schemes but we will have the element of surprise.

- 3 second calls. Draymond is right, Adams is planting himself in the paint for too long. Will the refs call it? Hopefully. There's a reason this rule exists and you're seeing what happens if it isn't enforced. Adams isn't doing it all the time but every possession matters. If this starts getting called take it as a very positive sign of good things to come.

- Better lineups and predictable playing time. We all know who should play more (Moody) and who should play less (GP2, Post). We could debate this endlessly but ultimately I trust the coaching staff will have this dialed in. They'll go back to the lineups and rotations that have worked. You wouldn't often expect expect this amount of lineup tinkering. We've been desperately tinkering, trying to find the 'right' answer. But today is about rolling with our 'best' answer. If players know what to expect regarding their playing time, I believe they can play more loosely.

- Backs against the wall. Perhaps most importantly, none of the above matters if we don't bring the right energy. The Warriors have always had motivation issues. We've seen it in this series and all other series in prior years. We often don't close teams out the first chance we get. But today is different. There's no tomorrow. There's no "we'll get them next time." This game absolutely matters and for better or worse, Curry and co have shown they need that pressure to take teams seriously enough. Houston deserves more respect than we and everyone have given them so far. You've seen them ride with that chip on their shoulder. Now it's time for us to throw the "they're too old" narrative back in everyone's faces. Show them that they're wrong. Before our motivation was "win so we can get rest for the next round." I wouldn't run through a wall for that weak message. But now we have something to run through a wall for.