Warriors expose Rockets in Game 1 as hypocrites and bricklayers

Houston has launched a public relations tour complaining about refereeing, but don’t seemed too concerned about shooting 14-of-47 from beyond the arc in Oracle yesterday

The Houston Rockets have spent the last two years telling anyone who would listen that they wanted to play the Golden State Warriors. Now, after a loss in Game 1 of the Western semifinals, Houston has resorted to shamelessly begging for public sympathy. They would want us to believe that the referees have conspired against them to keep them from toppling the Golden State Warriors.

Fascinating. A bold claim, and one not out of the question considering the NBA’s history with disgraced ref Tim Donaghy and the league acting as a business designed to collect gobs of cash.

Still, considering they are led by James Harden, reigning league MVP, and the greatest flopper in NBA history, I have to wonder where their basketball morality truly lies.

When Harden flops his way to the free throw line, there’s no recourse for his opponents. They can run to the refs and wildly complain, the crowd can go into an uproar, but still Harden will smirk his way to the line for two free points. Anyone who doesn’t like it just has to stew over it.

So forgive Dub Nation for being rather amused by Harden crying over alleged referee unfairness.

Does anyone here believe Harden truly wants fairness? Could a man wholly devoted to seducing referees actually desire an even playing field for all involved? Or does he merely wish to game the system more, using “fairness” as a trojan horse for his shadily effective basketball to bring him closer to a championship?

Is Harden an elite basketball player? Absolutely, he’s the reigning MVP! The man is an offensive savant. But the footage shows he’s using the referees desire to protect players from physical harm as a weapon. That’s fine, but it comes with a major drawback: what if the referees don’t bail him out?

The Rockets lose, just like they lost Game 1.

Harden’s poor repute aside, how were the calls in G1?

Thankfully, Mr. Apricot was able to reference Warriors Reddit’s video documentation to help us here. It would appear that both teams spent plenty of time getting physical and pushing the boundaries of acceptable airspace on offense and defense. Probably because it’s the PLAYOFFS and it’s universally understood that the physicality gets ratcheted up.

The difference between the two ballclubs is the Warriors are too busy actually putting the ball in the hoop to have an emotional meltdown over what the referees are doing.

In Game 1, the champs shot 50% from the field, made 7-of-22 three-pointers (31%), and were 21-of-27 at the charity stripe (77%).

The Rockets shot 41% from the field, made 14-of-47 three-pointers (lol) (29%), and 24-of-29 from the free-throw line (82%).

Maybe the Rockets should do an in depth investigation on doing something other than jacking hella shots from beyond the arc.