[clutch conspiracy] Are officials punishing the Rockets?

And may I add Luka Donkey shoots low percentage from 3, Lazy on defense and poor unreliable in FT with zero playoff experience and teams not trapping zoning him the way they do James. Oh but Luka is God. That’s the issue here is unfair criticism on James while uplifting and praising lesser players and not seeing fault in these other players while demonizing him. Separate and unequal. Unjust, unfair, inaccurate and not based on facts. Harden haters are simply not knowledgeable relying not on facts and information but emotion to guide their judgement.

 

yes, Harden will have to average 50+ and make 8-10 threes a night in order to overcome ref corruption

the refs only swallow their whistles for Harden, but Bron, KD, Kawhi, and even the likes of Steph Curry can get to the line no problem come postseason

 

There are a lot of good posts in this thread! Ironically, I feel depressed after reading all of them..

The NBA (lead by Silver) has completely shown their hand and put on full display how corrupt the officiating is! At this point in time I feel like a junkie who wants to stop watching basketball but can’t because I have Rockets Red in my blood!!

The media will rob Harden of another MVP and the refs will make sure we don’t have a fair chance a a championship! Rinse, wash, and repeat!

“Oh what a wicked webb the NBA weaves when it attempts to deceive...”

.......
.......
.......

 

The weirdest thing about Harden's sudden string of single-digit FTA games? No one outside of the Rockets fandom seems to think it's worthy of attention in the slightest. Just a fluke, obviously. No ref bias at all.

And if we (as a fan base) make a stink about it, we're just whiny Rockets fans who now see themselves as perpetual victims because their cheating superstar can't seem to win a title with his ugly-ass game.

 

in other words

 

There's no smoking gun proof and once someone calls them out on it, the numbers will go back up as quick as one can say NBA Conspiracy.

No one wants to speak up and get blackballed by some NBA fixer with time on their hands.

And data? Murrell had bballhollic level spreadsheets for the playoff fix, and yeah...

 

You notice the refa always show up to deflate any momentum that the rockets try to build to keep them flat tonight was ridiculous

 

Couple top teams lost tonight, Zebras taking the under, earning money for Christmas presents.

 

Time for the Rockets to take disciplinary action on some more officials

 

Rockets asked for it. League is making them hurt. Clear as day.

 

Nobody likes whiny b****es especialy refs and opposing fans

 

Once played in a rec league. We didn't like the officiating because they were literally letting us get beat up out there in order to push the game through faster and end their night's work. We complained about the blatant hits they weren't called. It only got worse. The lesson? Don't go after the people behind the whistle. They are a mafia of their own.

 

I don’t think any of us will claim to be unbiased, but Harden (and the team’s) sudden lack of FT attempts is alarming and frankly, not that surprising. I’m not saying the refs have it out for Harden and Morey...but I’m not NOT saying it either. Good thing is, the more games this lack of FT attempts persist, the less it can happen without drawing major attention. So I’m expecting a progression to the mean in the upcoming games. In the playoffs though? I hope our stripy friends don’t swallow their whistles.

 

Ref conspiracy may or may not be real, but Rockets culture of whining and entitlement is definitely real. I think it started with Morey (constant complaining that Harden should be multiple MVP and that ppl need to recognize him as greatest scorer of all time) and because he's a good GM and overall genius level intellect, it's normalized whining among the fanbase. the rockets aren't playing championship level ball and thinking a few extra calls from refs is the missing ingredient reflects total lack of self awareness. We have much bigger issues than the refs and the more we dwell on things we can't control rather than the things we can (general lack of offensive structure besides being all-in on harden doing everything, horrible defense, shortsighted rotations and overusing key players), the less likely the rockets are going to taste real success.

All these years people keep talking about how the rockets would've won in 18 if Chris Paul didn't get hurt - when we all know it's just as likely the rockets would've counted the chip as a lock and proceed to get outworked by a lesser Cavs team. And then 19 we have a chance to prove it against a durantless team and we legit didn't even make it to game 7. Reality check people - stop listening to Morey and the front office about how great this team is, and stop the echo chamber of how the league is holding us down. The truth is we just ain't even that good.

 

Considering all the valid points here, I think it's both a blessing and a curse for our Rockets. Yeah, playing with the knowledge that the League and the Refs have it out for us should be good for the team, as long as they can play through it. Given we have EG & GG out with injuries, what is more concerning to me this early is that we lose games to teams we should easily beat; why can't Coach D'antoni call a timeout once the opponent is making a run, especially when we have a huge lead? Yeah, it could be some teaching moment, but come on, we've been giving teams a reason to believe that they can mount a comeback anytime they want and we really shouldn't be giving them any confidence that they can. It's still too early and we aren't a complete rotation yet but we really should improve on the little things now instead of having to adjust later. Finally, I like that we're not the darlings of the league right now, it should motivate the team more to just play harder and have no more excuses in getting a resounding win. I really hope it comes together once EG is back.

 

No way dude. It’s even worse on reddit because comments don’t reflect accuracy, they reflect popularity.

Just check out r/politics or r/nba. It’s absolutely amazing how dumb the average person is capable of being.

 

But only incompetent during Rockets games???

 

What Cuban started doing was working behind the scenes with them to enact change (either changing the unwritten laws, or making them more public). A lesson Morey should carefully examine.

Although this really only came about after Stern slapped him with a million dollar fine, and Cuban commented he has more money than the NBA has fines. ie...the NBA realized they couldn't contain him that way, without ratcheting up the fines to the point where it would clearly show bias. Not sure the Rockets are willing to go to that level. Basically, you have to carry forward a strong campaign making the NBA look stupid, to the point where you suffer multiple fines...and THEN they finally realize its in their interest to change.

 

Yes, but the 'public' loves them, and we know what the general perception of the Rockets is. ie, it's not about who complains...it's about who is popular, and who isn't. This is where the campaign against Harden and the Rockets has real impact..it negates their legitimate complaints.