After watching last nights game and others like it I'm convinced the refs have it out for our Rockets. I guess it has something to do with the general perception that the Rockets as a team and more specifically Harden have fooled refs into making calls over the last few years. Now they've created this new Harden rule that they didn't even try to mask as anything other than a rule specifically created to target him. My first question to you is am I tripping because there is no real bias by the refs against the Rockets? My 2nd question is if there is a real bias against us will we be able to overcome it in the playoffs when officials can have an even bigger influence on the outcome of games?
I think last night was a schedule loss tbh. David Stern had it circled in his book. Haven’t seen another game officiated like that so far this year.
Refs really took us-- PJ, quite literally-- out of the game last night. Kinda wish MDa would just sit the starters for the rest of the game whenever it's clearly 5-on-8.
It wasn't the refs. It was because ppl on this bbs couldn't stop talking about our winning streak and how good we were playing. y'all jinxed us.
Harden earned those 19 ft attempts by driving to the hole relentlessly. I'm not saying the refs were the only reason we lost because we shot the ball horribly as well but to say the Raptors weren't the beneficiary of some phantom calls would just be wrong.
We didn't lose because of the refs, but the refs made it nearly unbearable to watch. The ugliest game I have seen officiated that I can currently recall. Phantom calls galore. Ticky tack fouls all night. Incorrect calls everywhere. There was no semblance of an actual game. No offensive rhythm or mojo from either team. Defense was non existent for either club. The raptors made more shots than us in between the nonsense. Meh...
I'm sure the refs didn't give up 45 points in the 2nd quarter. I don't care how bad the refs are officiating there is no excuse for that.
It's weird how when a team like Houston or golden state gets extremely hot and scores this much, no one blames it on lack of defense but rather explosive offense. But when a team scores 45 on us it's cut and dry our defense no other reason. In the 2nd quarter the raptors shot 13-18 for .722 fg% and 3-6 for .50 3fg%. On top of that, they made 16-20 Fts for .80 ft%. Yes, our defense had some lapses in that quarter but they were on fire. It's also kinda hard to dig in and get focused with a total of 20 personal foul calls and 34 total free throw attempts.
The thing I hate is the head contact replays. So guy lowers his body and pushes his head forward in an effort to steal a ball and gets hit in his head as a result of him lunging forward and not only is it a bs offensive foul but they have to stop play for a minute to review? EG was really struggling there when Harden had to sit and the refs had something to do with it. Also disappointed in MDA. You could see a tech coming. PJ is more important than MDA at that point. MDA needed to step up and get the tech.
As bad as all of the officiating was, and the ugliness of the game, the Rox also looked a little punchy. Like they used up their energy on Cleveland / Memphis / Indiana. You know how when you don't get much sleep you're out of sorts not so much on that same day but on the next? At least near the beginning of the game they looked like a boxer who's taken a few too many uppercuts. Could be my imagination. They better bounce back against lowly Phoenix. No trap game, bros.
The refs were bad but the Rockets didn't deserve that game regardless with how they played. Bounce back vs. Phoenix tomorrow.
