Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images
Not only was the officiating a big story following the Golden State Warriors‘ 104-100 win over the Houston Rockets on Sunday, the referees apparently admitted to missing calls at halftime.
This is how Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni explained it after the game:
Ben Golliver @BenGolliver
After Game 1 loss to Warriors, Rockets’ Mike D’Antoni weighs in on the officials not calling fouls on three-point shots: “They just came at halftime and said they missed them. They missed four of them. That’s 12 foul shots.” https://t.co/IA6lqeuvcv
Houston did go to the free-throw line 29 times during the game, with James Harden shooting 13-of-14 on his own. However, an additional 12 attempts from the charity stripe could have made a significant difference in a four-point loss.
The main argument from the Rockets perspective was that the Warriors defenders seemed to undercut shooters before landing.
Klay Thompson specifically had a few instances of jumping into Harden after a shot:
House of Highlights @HoHighlights
Harden was not happy about these close-outs by Klay + CP3 and Mike D’Antoni get techs after a no-call.
https://t.co/p1hKXw1DsC
Chris Paul also wanted a foul after this made three-pointer:
Houston Rockets @HoustonRockets
.@CP3 with a BIG 3! https://t.co/zNNkUgZt2P
Paul was eventually thrown out of the game in the final seconds for arguing with an official.
Houston relies on getting to the line, ranking third in the NBA with 19.3 made free throws per game. The squad could struggle offensively without these calls, especially when the team shoots just 29.8 percent from three-point range like it did in Game 1.
If the officials genuinely made a mistake like D’Antoni said, perhaps they could get the calls more often going forward in this series.
from Daily Trends Hunter http://bit.ly/2vnSg10
via IFTTT
Daily Trends Hunter 