LAST PLAY Harden missed Terrance Jones for the easy layup

I don't disagree, just wanted to dispel the notion that Harden didn't want to take the last shot.

 

good point

 

Saw a lot of screen grabs on Twitter about this. Impossible to make that pass.

 

Go to every NBA team's message board and you will see a set of folks always complaining about how the refs are biased against their team. There's always some conspiracy theory about some hush-hush directive from the NBA to promote the opponent winning. LOL seriously? I can just see it now.. refs before tipoff talking amongst themselves... all right guys, who are we going to cook for this game... Adam Silver emailed me last night and said we need to favor the Warriors. LOL ok...

If you listened to Van Gundy last night who's actually a Rockets fan and still lives in Houston, he's constantly harping last night in the telecast about how Harden is difficult to "officiate". He didn't say difficult to guard, he said difficult to officiate. Which is code word for a lot of the fouls called on his defenders are not really fouls but are induced by Harden initiating contact.

For the most part, I thought the officiating last night was pretty decent. Some missed calls but they went both ways. Curry being called for an offensive foul when it was clearly not and Green jumping into Jones for the rebound were the 2 I thought the refs bungled but hey, they're not perfect.

 

If that had been D-mo instead of D12, he would have popped that foul line jumper. All D12 wanted to do was give it back to the guy with two guys on him....

Harden should have cut toward D12 and let him set up a screen.

 

I don't think he completes that pass to Jones. Only play really available was the pull up jumper or the timeout.

 

Except that Dwight would have to have both legs amputated above the knee to have not be on the floor in that situation on the previous play with the Rockets needing a defensive stop & rebound, so it wouldn't have happened anyway.

Instead Dwight was out there and he altered the shot. I do wonder "what if Dwight took a couple dribbles and bulldozed toward the rim and tried for a long floater/layup and/or made 1-2 FT's" but the ONE game changing call I do see the officials making in that situaiton would be a Howard charge because Green would have been right there and would have been set and ready to take it.

It would have been funny if he decided on a jumper from the FT line.

 

Yep, and it was obviously a great call. He caused the miss shot.

The reason no time out was called was because Harden got the rebound. Which is fine. If anyone else got the rebound, we'd obviously have seen a different ending.

The reason for the turnover has been perfectly stated in this thread:
- Ariza running right behind James
- Dwight being wide open yet passing back to a doubled Harden
- Harden "maybe" missing a TJones cutting
- Harden just rushing/getting a little sloppy for a half-second

The real fact is, it was good defense.

Would have felt great to get a shot off... but in all likelihood, you are looking at a long, contested jumper. With the way he's been playing, you sure would have felt good about that maybe going in, but probability says it wouldn't have.

Hindsight is 20/20, but I think the timeout was appropriate. They got the ball with 8 seconds left. Half of that was "wasted" dribbling up the court. In a pure streak, 1 on 1, or 1 on 2, I can see that... but the Warriors are a good defensive team, AND the reason there was barely any contest on the rebound - except for Green - is because they were ready to get back on defense.

A timeout would have given you the inbound with the full 8 seconds.

I'd have drawn up a really quick Ariza screen for Harden. Barnes is an ok defender, but can't stay with Harden as well as Klay can. They could double James, but I'll take an open Ariza three over a highly contested Harden shot. I'd like to see more Ariza/Harden screens generally, though.

The Rockets love to do the PG/SG screen to get the PG on Harden. I'm really not sure why. I think the opposing team's three guarding Harden makes the most sense. They're just not quick enough to stay with Harden - like some points are, yet not big enough to "cover up" the paint on drives like some bigs are. Harden on Matt Barnes, Harrison Barnes, whatever.

So I would have taken the timeout, taken Dwight out for a shooter (lineup = Terry, Harden, Brewer, Ariza, Jones...), drawn up an in bound pass to Harden with a quick Ariza screen, spread out the shooters and see what happened.

But it's hindsight.

 

I just hope he can redeem himself.. some people are just born with great instincts.. mj, lebron, kobe.. you know you are screwed in that situation.. hope he redeems himself.

 

I think if we called a timeout, we would have just had a repeat of the ending to the last memphis game.

Pushing it up the floor without a TO was a good decision, IMO. It was just a smart play by GS to trap Harden.

 

This is hyperbole.

For one, James has been very clutch in his career. More clutch than most, I'd say. Plenty of game winners. Really good play down the stretch. All the more reason last night was so sad.

For two, the others you mentioned aren't that great. Kobe is something like a 33% shooter in game winning situations. Lebron has been hammered for his lack of clutchness, and only changed that tune over the last few years, but even then, he hasn't been great. See Game 6 of the last Finals they won, where he was pretty bad coming down the stretch but Ray Allen bailed him out.

MJ is the GOAT, no doubt.

Would have LOVED for Harden to have that MJ like shot last night... but then, if the can come back to win the series, the turnover will be "forgotten".

 

The thing is, we can shoulda-coulda-woulda about those last 5 seconds all day.

I mean, Harden and Brewer could have run a better fast break, the Rockets did have a timeout, TJ was open while running to the basket, Howard had no one within 10 feet of him when he caught that pass, Howard passed the ball to a double teamed Harden, the double team on Harden left Brewer relatively open in the corner, no screen was set for Harden when he did get the ball, Thompson/Curry fouled Harden... if was incredibly frustrating to lose that game when it was right there for the taking.

At the end of the day, though, we had Harden driving down the court with 5 seconds left on the clock and a chance to win the game... I'll take that everyday and twice on Sundays - that's pretty much what he does best. It just really, really, really sucks they couldn't pull it off.

The Warriors are both really good and REALLY lucky considering they don't have any major injuries to deal with; I can't see them hanging with Houston if they were missing two of their starters like the Rockets are.

I think the Rockets have a very good shot to win the next two games at home and even the series - and from there, anything can happen.

 

Just give credit to GS and get over it. They played it perfectly and there isn't much more we could have done given the circumstance. The only argument I can see is that Harden should have stayed in the middle of the floor but then Jones and Green would have been coming right at him.

 

That would have been a risky pass.

Give the Warriors credit for getting back on defense after losing the possession. I understand why they didn't call the timeout at first, trying to push the ball. But seeing no day light ahead of Harden with about 4 seconds left, they should have called timeout.

 

5 on 8.

 

5.5 seconds left on the clock. Why did Harden hesitate and stop driving in? Would of love to just see him continue to drive the ball into the lane and force his way in

 

Lots of blame to go around for that last possession but that's what happens with a young team. It wasn't too long ago Golden State was getting knocked around in the playoffs due to their inexperience.

McHale will hopefully call a timeout in the future when he realizes a fastbreak has been stopped. Harden, will more than likely take that initial step back or maybe even force his way to the basket next time.

But the good news is that houston has hung in there both games with Golden State. There isn't a lot separating us from them, just a few bad calls and some lapses on defense from us.

 

I thought about this scenario all night and I came to the conclusion that one of these would've happened

1) missed the layup
2) bobbled the pass
3) traveled
4) some miraculous way he makes the shot but leaves enough time for Curry or Thompson to hit a game winner

I think he would've traveled.

Anyways, gotta forget about this game and must win game 3.

 

Redeem himself for what?

It was just a good defensive play by GS. That's it.

 

You wrote a good post, except the refs part

I'm tired of every Rockets fan complaining about the refs (not just talking about you of course). Every single playoff game we lose is due to refs according to our fans