When it rains, it pours!

Cebu, Cagayan De Oro and the rest of the country experienced heavy rainfall for the past few days.

Although the rain skipped past last Saturday’s solemn procession and grand Sinulog parade on Sunday, it came back strong early Monday morning as temperature dropped to 26 degrees even in the mid-afternoon. The hills of Barangay Sirao and Barangay Busay had landslides and part of road just before going up the Mountain View had jeepneys covered in muds.

Cagayan and parts of Mindanao also experienced over one month worth of rain which led to flooding.

 Just as we were experiencing these sad and tragic moment, the NBA had a different kind of rain keep on pouring and pouring as Golden State Warriors kept on pounding their opponents.

The Warriors are riding on five-game winning streak including a 35-point destruction of the defending champions Cleveland Cavaliers. They also annihilated Durant’s former team in Oklahoma City Thunder.

Durant was simply amazing in shooting with an 81.3 FG % including 5 out 7 from beyond the arc against the Cavs who just beefed their line up with the addition of sweet shooting Kyle Korver. This 13- year veteran and All-Star has yet to lose a home game with Cleveland, but he lost three games on the road including the Warriors since his debut.

But don’t count them out just yet because once Korver gets the feel and rhythm of the rotation. I am 100 percent sure that Cleveland will be to be back in the Finals.When it rained it poured and Durant was simply unstoppable. Averaging a 65 percent field goal percentage and incredible 55 percent from the beyond the arc this season. Although, don't  celebrate just yet, because no matter how many points you score against an opponent, it is still counted as one win.

The problem with the Warriors is that sometimes they fall in love with three-point and forgets to play inside the paint which has a higher percentage. Warriors also have been very tentative in their offense especially in the last six minutes of the game.

Evident was when Durant and Draymond Green had a misunderstanding during the final second of in a game and lost. For me, it is good to lose crucial games this early to enable them to make necessary adjustment and be more prepared this coming playoff. Winning record is not the priority as long as they get the home court advantage.  They still lacked the killer instinct that made them the NBA champions two years ago.

Defense could be their missing link although JaVale McGee has been constantly improving in that area same with Zaza Pachulia. Defense is still a team effort and McGee has been getting lots of criticisms and bullying from former All-Star center Shaquille O’Neal, but this actually gives McGee the much needed motivation to prove his doubters wrong. The Warriors is a hard team to defend and they are shooting 50 percent from the field this season. They are also averaging 31 assists per game.

As for the Cavs going back to finals depends solely on Lebron James and Kyrie Irving. Lebron is simply unstoppable, no doubt but sometimes he just shares the ball too much. Same goes with Kyrie. As for the rest of the team, they should be ready to step up big time. Thompson and Love on defense, Korver with his outside shooting together with the the ageless Richard Jefferson. Cavs also have to improve their outside shooting and defense.

Real test is expected to come for the Cavs and Warriors is the second half of the season after the NBA All-Star break.  Teams to watch out for are the Dallas Mavericks, San Antonio Spurs, Houston Rockets for the West and Milwaukee Bucks, Toronto Raptors and New York Knicks for the East.

The Knicks on paper is one strong contender and are seen to provide challenge for the Cavs with its deep line up and All-Star players.  The Knicks need to gel quickly and maybe they need the ‘Zen Master’ Phil Jackson to step in as head coach if he is healthy enough to do so.

For now my crystal ball is pointing to a Cavs-Warriors rematch in the 2017 NBA finals.