James Harden just wants a fair chance. After officials chose not to call fouls on several controversial shot attempts in Houston’s 104-101 Game 1 loss to Golden State on Sunday, that’s all Harden could offer in response: “I just want a fair chance, man,” he said post-game. “Call the game how it’s supposed to be called, and that’s it. And I’ll live with the results.”
The result from Game 1 was an 0-1 deficit the Rockets now face to advance past the Warriors for a shot at a championship. Another result from Game 1 is a conversation: Are the referees officiating Harden the right way when he lands after taking contested three-point shots?
On Sunday, the answer was no
Houston’s internal video team re-watched the tape and, according to The Athletic’s Sam Amick and Kelly Iko, they counted eight missed foul calls on Rockets jump shooters in Game 1. The officiating crew admitted to Mike D’Antoni they missed four calls by halftime alone.
Mike D’Antoni says refs admitted at halftime they missed fouls on Warriors closing out on James Harden. “They missed four of them. That’s 12 foul shots.”
— Tim MacMahon (@espn_macmahon) April 28, 2019
Several of the incidents in question occurred when Klay Thompson contested on Harden’s three-point attempts. The video poses an interesting question into the distance Harden covers when he leaves his feet for a contested jump shot.
But the video also shows Thompson encroaching into Harden’s landing space while contesting his shot. It’s something that occurred more than once in Game 1.
Another factor was Houston’s final possession of regulation, where contact was made between Harden and Draymond Green.
Only this time, Harden’s legs flailed into Green, who was not moving while defending the shot. When made aware of Harden’s comments, Green responded: “I’ve been fouled by James on a James three-point attempt before. ... I’m gonna contest the shot like I contest a shot. If you land three feet ahead from where you shoot the ball from, that ain’t really my issue.”
This is especially ugly because of Golden State’s biggest blemish: That’s Kawhi Leonard’s series ending injury in the 2017 West Finals. You know, when Zaza Pachulia slid into Leonard’s landing zone twice in the same game? That incident ended that series for San Antonio. The Rockets don’t want to suffer the same fate.
“We all know what happened a few years back with Kawhi,” Harden said. “That can change the entire series.”
But there’s a weird twist to this story
Apparently these landing zone fouls aren’t just a Game 1 thing — they date back to last year’s Rockets-Warriors Western Conference Finals showdown, too.
The Athletic reported that Houston acquired play-by-play officiating reports for each game of that West Finals series — essentially a Last Two Minutes report for every minute of each game. When the Rockets viewed the officiating reports, they learned the NBA acknowledged missed foul calls that robbed Houston of 93 potential points in the series.
They also learned the league ruled there should have been foul calls on two of their 27 consecutive missed threes in Game 7. The Warriors won that game, 101-92, but the NBA ruled the Rockets should have had 18 more points.
That’s not all, either
According to The Athletic, Houston also believes Game 1 proved true one of the allegations they made while discussing the findings with the NBA: “The notion that the league’s more experienced officials are far less willing to call this play in accordance with the rules, as compared to younger officials.”
Houston reportedly made this complaint with the NBA months ago. Their complaints didn’t influence the officiating crew, complete with three referees at least in their ninth NBA season.
That’s why Houston GM Daryl Morey cryptically tweeted “Been working on things since 2006 ¯\_(ツ)_/¯” after Mark Cuban tweeted an interest in seeing the Last Two Minutes Report for Game 1. Because Cuban’s Dallas Mavericks lost the 2006 NBA Finals to the Miami Heat in one of the most controversially officiated games in playoff history.
This thing has layers. For now, all we can do is wait for Game 1’s Last Two Minutes Report. The officials, though, already gave us the answers to the questions we’ll have.
They did miss multiple calls on Harden shot attempts on Sunday. The only question left is a simple one:
Now what?
https://www.sbnation.com/nba/2019/4/29/18521875/james-harden-fouls-three-pointers-referees-nba-playoffs
2019-04-29 13:00:00Z
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