Like most of the Patriots players Sylvester Williams Jersey Elite , Trey Flowers generally stays under the radar.

Flowers has made his loudest impact on the field and emerged as a key part of the defense during the runs to the Super Bowl in the past two seasons.

Flowers has become one of the leaders on a defense that has finally found some stability after struggling to stop teams early in the season. He has helped fill the void created by Dont’a Hightower’s season-ending shoulder injury.

Flowers missed all but one game during his rookie season in 2015 before being placed on injured reserve because of knee and shoulder issues.

He returned in 2016 and appeared in all 16 regular-season games, leading the team with seven sacks. His production continued in the playoffs, where he added 2+ sacks.

The 24-year-old has been equally impressive this season.

Flowers again led the team with 6+ sacks, despite missing back-to-back games in December with a rib injury. But he had 12 tackles and a half-sack over his final three games. It was his best three-game stretch of the regular season.

He’s added another sack and eight tackles since the start of the postseason.

Flowers credits the defense’s weekly preparation for creating the opportunities he’s had.

”I think a lot of guys can make plays at any given time,” Flowers said. ”You’ve got a lot of playmakers in this locker room so it’s just one of those things where you’ve got to deal with all of us. Once everybody prepares well and gets ready for the game and things like that, any given down somebody can make a play.”

He said getting back to the Super Bowl is proof of how far the defense has progressed since it ranked at the bottom of the NFL in total defense for nine consecutive weeks during the regular season.

”It’s big. Just the fashion of how we got to (the Super Bowl),” Flowers said. ”It took complete, four-quarter games. It took everybody. It’s pretty big.”

Defensive captain Devin McCourty said the time Flowers has put in over the past two seasons is recognizable to his teammates.

”If you guys talk to Trey you can see he doesn’t talk a lot. He’s not a man of many words,” McCourty said. ”I think that the thing I see from him is now when he feels like it’s time to say something and he wants to say something, it usually makes a big impact on the team because guys know his work ethic.

”They know how much he cares about playing well individually and the success of the team. When he speaks Authentic Fred Warner Jersey , guys tend to listen.”

Coach Bill Belichick said Flowers is displaying the same conditioning and ability to finish games now they saw when they first scouted him at Arkansas.

”He plays hard, pursues the ball well, played a lot of plays at Arkansas (and) wasn’t substituted for a lot. He was in there and played a lot of important plays, kind of as you would expect him to be given the caliber of his play,” Belichick said. ”He can do a lot of different things for us and has done that. And it’s been very valuable.”

While Flowers thinks the defense has played some of its best football this postseason, he isn’t taking anything for granted.

”We understand we’ve got one more,” he said. ”It doesn’t come easy…The next team is gonna be the best we’ve played all year. It’s a tough task.”

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Stephen Curry and Golden State turned all those Houston bricks into a road back to the NBA Finals.

Needing not only all their firepower but also 27 straight misses by the Rockets during an epic cold streak from 3-point range, the Warriors rallied to keep alive their hopes for a repeat.

Kevin Durant scored 34 points, Curry sparked another third-quarter turnaround, and the Warriors earned a fourth straight trip to the NBA Finals by beating the Rockets 101-92 in Game 7 of the Western Conference finals on Monday night.

The defending champions trailed by as many as 15 in the first half after falling behind 17 in Game 6.

”We know we can make an 11-point lead evaporate with two minutes of good basketball Eagles Dallas Goedert Jersey ,” Klay Thompson said.

Curry, who finished with 27 points, scored 14 of Golden State’s 33 points in the third quarter as Houston’s shooting didn’t just go cold, it froze. The Rockets missed all 14 3-point attempts in that quarter as part of a 1-for-21 second half from long range.

Curry said someone asked him after the victory if it’s still special to get to the finals when it’s the fourth time in a row.

”Yes,” he said, ”because it’s really hard.”

The Warriors will host LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 1 on Thursday night in the fourth straight matchup between the teams.

James Harden had 32 points as the top-seeded Rockets’ bid to return to the finals for the first time since 1995 fell short without Chris Paul, who was nursing a hamstring injury.

”We just didn’t have that extra juice that we needed,” Harden said.

The Rockets fell apart in the second half again after doing so in Game 6. The Warriors outscored Houston 122-63 in the second half of the final two games.

”It’s amazing how long the NBA game is,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. ”Forty-eight minutes, it lasts a long time and there’s so many opportunities to get yourself going as a team. And with our team http://www.billsauthorizedshops.com/authentic-marshall-newhouse-jersey , there’s just so much firepower that at some point, we’re going to get going.”

The Rockets finished 7 of 44 on 3-pointers, with Trevor Ariza missing all nine of his attempts, Eric Gordon going 2 for 12 and Harden making just 2 of 13.

Houston was behind by 13 after a 3 by Curry and had missed 27 straight 3-pointers when P.J. Tucker hit one from the corner to cut the lead to 89-79 midway through the quarter.

It was their first 3-pointer since one by Gordon with about 6 1/2 minutes left in the second quarter that put the Rockets up 42-28 during a woeful Warriors start.

”We were lucky to escape out of here,” Kerr said.

Tucker’s 3 was the first of seven straight points for Houston which cut the lead to 89-83.

But Durant scored six points in a 9-2 spurt after that which left the Warriors 97-85 with about three minutes to go.

Houston finally found a little offense after that, using a 7-2 run to cut it to 99-92, but their rally bid came up short.

Thompson added 19 for Golden State after scoring 35 in the Game 6 win and the Warriors got a fourth straight start from Kevon Looney with Andre Iguodala sitting out again with a bone bruise on his left leg.

After being down by 10 at halftime of Game 6, the Warriors trailed by 11 entering the third quarter on Monday night. Golden State opened the third quarter with a 10-4 run to cut the lead to 58-53 after a 3-pointer by Nick Young with about eight minutes left in the quarter.

Tucker made one of two free throws and the teams exchanged layups before Golden State scored nine straight points, with two 3s from Curry, to take a 64-61 lead.

Harden made two free throws before Curry scored eight points in a row Authentic Kody Clark Jersey , highlighted by a 3-pointer which bounced high off the rim before falling back in, to make it 72-63 with just over two minutes left in the quarter.

Golden State scored 33 points in the third quarter for the second straight game while Houston managed just 15 points on Monday night after it scored 16 in the third in Game 6.

TIP-INS

Warriors: Curry went to the locker room with trainers between the first and second quarters, but returned to the bench with about 10 minutes remaining in the second quarter and soon returned to the game. … Thompson picked up his third foul with about 8 1/2 minutes left in the first quarter and sat out most of the period. … Draymond Green had 10 points, 13 rebounds and five assists.

Rockets: Houston fell to 6-5 all-time in Game 7s and 4-2 at home. … Capela finished with 20 points and 12 rebounds. … Tucker had 14 points and 12 rebounds.

PUSHING EACH OTHER

Green and Durant were barking at each other several times during the game when things weren’t going well for the Warriors.

”I was cussing him out,” Green said. ”He was cussing me out when I was wrong. I was cussing at him out when he was wrong. But that’s what we do. I am the guy who calls him out and he is the guy who calls me out. It’s great. You have to have that on your team. To know that you’ve got guys in your corner means a lot.”

UP NEXT

The Warriors host Game 1 of the finals on Thursday and Game 2 on Sunday.

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