I'm curious to see what the general consensus is in a poll. Truly, a combination of all three of these is to blame. But what's the BIGGEST factor? There are threads dedicated to each of these topics, but let's pit them against each other. After game 2 I would've said the refs, but after game 3 I'm starting to lean towards Rockets. What say ye?
Right now I would say all three. But Poppy is the biggest reason. He wins with great players as he should, but he wins when they are hurt or out. He win's with medium player's . MDA is good , but he ain't Poppy, hell he ain't even Rudy T.
I'd give half the credit to the Spurs for their defensive adjustment, play discipline and of course Kawhi. The other half, I'd blame the Rockets, lack of adjustments since game 1. Mainly, what happened to the pace? Inability to attack the paint, Harden's terrible game in game 2, Ryan Anderson and the bench's terrible play in game 3, wasting a great game by Harden and Capella and a good game by Ariza.
Game 1 - Rockets Game 2 - 40% refs + 60% Spurs Game 3 - 60% refs + 40 % Spurs Rockets - 1 Refs - 1 Spurs - 1
Agreed, to an extent. The refs definitely pissed me off in game 2 more than I can remember being mad for several years.
Agreed, in general, but I felt like game 2 was worse than 3 with the foul calls. Still, both games are highly suspect. Especially considering how drastically things changed in that area from game 1. Interpretations of rules can't change THAT quickly in 2 days, can they?
they've definitely made some bad calls or had what I thought were a few egregious no calls, but they're nowhere close to being the main reason for why we're down 2-1, and I hate to see Rockets fans blaming them for these last 2 losses and saying "if it wasn't for the refs"...
It's mostly on Mike . That being said Lou and Ryan need to play better as do Gordon and bev to a lesser extent . James has had 2 very good games and 1 crappy one , maybe the crappy one can be explained . We've yet to find an answer to kawhi , gasol , or LA for that matter . Frankly it seems like the Spurs just have a better game plan and execution. That tracks back to pop vs Mike Mike needs to stop being so stubborn . If Murray and Simmons can play 14 minutes each , there's no reason why Dekker ( when Ryan is playing this poorly and Trevor can't stop kawhi) can't get some minutes at the very least as a change of pace .
Isn't the problem that so much of our offense relies on refs to either help or hurt us? That's the rockets fault IMO.
Also true - to an extent. But let's be honest, Nene's game isn't built on foul calls. Yet, because Pau Gasol seems to have a pass on loose ball fouls and under-the-basket fouls, Nene just gets absolutely hacked and can't do much with it. Same for several other players. It's like the Seattle Seahawks once said "if you hold and grab on every play, they won't call everything."
It's a combination of all three. The Rockets were fools gold and built for a good regular season. Don't worry, I fell for them like I always do. In the playoffs star players and clutch performers are desperately needed and also happen to get calls from refs. Harden is the only all-star level player on our team. The rest are just bench players at best. It's a testament to how great Harden is that they are able to win as many games as they do. This league is built for teams with multiple all-star players to win the championships. The Spurs have aging all-stars surrounding Kawhi. The Warriors and Cavs have 3+ all stars. The only other team left in the playoffs that are similar to the Rockets are the Celtics, but they play great defense. Still I doubt anyone thinks they will beat the Cavs in the East.
Of course it's a combo of all three. That's why the question is which one is the "biggest" factor. It sounds like your vote is for the Rockets? That's mine, too. The refs are currently beating the Spurs, though.
I didn't know that Media Conspiracy actually influenced games. I was under the impression that it was just a negative spin on any result.