Just like everyone else, I am looking for someone to blame. Harden? Paul's injury? The refs? I have no doubt in my mind that a healthy Chris Paul would have taken this team to the Finals. But that wasn't to be and such as sports. But it's very hard not to wrap my mind around this game #7. Harden did what he could and played as the player he needed to, but he is not an emotional leader when it comes to calming the tempo down. The refs missed calls in the 2nd quarter but more importantly the Rockets did not deal with adversity in the second half the way they should have. You can call it bad luck on those missed 3s but I think it was nerves of the moment. The one Rocket player who has won a championship went 0-12 in the game and took forced shots. The Rockets had this game if they could have maneuvered the 3rd quarter better, but that is where CP3 comes in. It's a shame that he was not able to play and we as fans will forever be questioning how that may have effected the outcome. But we brought "one of the greatest offensive teams in league history" to the brink of elimination. I'm not going to sit here and say that is an accomplishment because everyone knows that. This loss hurts deep. And even though I've witnessed two championships in my life with this team and an Astros World Series win, it doesn't make this loss any less painful. But we did our best when we could have mailed it in and got blown out for a second straight game. We gave the league a blue print on the future. On how to combat against a team structured like the Warriors. We became one of the best offensive teams behind them in the league and ALMOST pulled it out. But for one reason or another it wasn't to be. I also apologize for my guarantee victory today and saying Paul would definitely play, but I was really trying to be optimistic of our chances. With that said. It will be hard to emotionally get over this loss and think next year will be any better. We are not a young thriving team like the Celtics or Wolves and may very well disband or even start over with positions on our team. Literally I think the only think that could help us get over this faster would be a big time free agent signing like a Lebron (who knows if that would even translate). All in all, this was a great season. We were underdogs all year and only given credit because the Warriors were injured throughout. We battled our way to the best record a Rockets team has ever had and even though it has ended up in a hard loss, I'm still happier we competed than got swept out of the building. I have never been a conspiracy theorist for the NBA, but I will say I will never be able to look at basketball the same way again after this game. A part of me and my love for this game died today, but that's okay. It will make me stronger as a human being and more thankful for the past year I've had with both the Astros and Rockets thriving. I can not in good conscience say "Good Game" or even "Wait till next year" But I can leave you with this. With the odds stacked against us, we did all that we could. And I couldn't be more prouder of what this team has been able to do.
This year's loss was different than other exits. I feel like it was taken away without the other team beating us. Maybe the rotations were too short and the wheels came off in a seven game series. Maybe the shot selection was ass. I guess the smart money was that we were done after cp3 went down at the ****ing last minute of g5. But those early leads and the ref swallowing their whistles right on the clock is too much of a bitter pill. The rules need to change on wiping away made threes. Those ****head refs are trolling Harden for the extra scrutiny he puts them through in the regular season. Without that bullshit, maybe itd be easier to say those missed threes was the reason.
I prepared myself when CP3 went down. I'm consoled by the fact that we achieved our goal of taking the fight to Golden State, we pushed them to the brink. We showed the world we can win it all when we're healthy.
I'm devastated. I'm all-in every year, but this was definitely a special season. Guys clicked. It was beautiful. CP3 was the leader I expected and I loved watching national media members fluster over how well we played versus how bad they said we were. I was able to watch every single one of the 82 games and all of the playoffs for the first time in my life. What a great year to watch. I was with you guys along the way and like others have said, I knew GS was good but the guys made me believe anyway. I remember posting during our first winning streak in a game thread "What a time to be alive!" and that's how it truly felt watching this group. You could tell it was going to be different with these guys early. When we finally got to our GS goal, you could tell we tightened up--everyone except maybe CP. That first game was rough but the only time I felt like we looked like ourselves was in game 2. The rest of the series was a different type of basketball entirely. Games 6 and 7 seemed totally rigged to me, but maybe I am just so invested and devoted that I don't honestly believe these guys could lose. Don't apologize about CP, OP. I really believed he would will himself to play too, even if he was below 50%. Hey, better minutes than Ryno gave us at least. I just am most upset about the 'what ifs' of this season. What if CP3 didn't get hurt? What if Luc sat out after the first dislocation until the playoffs? What if the refs called a few calls the other way? What if we brought in Belinelli and Ilyasova instead of Joe Johnson and Brandon Wright? What if we had sprinkled in some set plays to get timely baskets when CP was out rather than just keep launching 3s? Who knows? I'm sure I'll be around and I'm sure I'll be interested when the season starts, but I don't see it right now. Usually I'm all hyped and in the random trade thread early, but I need to step away this year. This hurts and I've lost all confidence in the integrity of the league.
agree on most points, especially the part about not being able to look at the NBA the same way. disagree about next year, this feels exactly like spurs game 7 loss to lebron, with added injustice from the officiating. rockets will come back with a vengeance. ariza will have to go, he has declined physically and his three has been inconsistent for years, will only get worse. I'd be happy with mbah a moute as a starting SF. need to re-sign both paul and capela. need to unload anderson at whatever cost and sign a backup PG and decent PF, and maybe bring on a ringchaser or two our team will have another year of chemistry (harden/paul chemistry on the court never quite got there), and harden and capela will be better. hopefully more rest for harden and paul during the regular season (33-34 mpg and ~30 mpg respectively). we will get them next year
For the future, we are alright. CP3 we just have to hope stays healthy, he's a guy I think like Nash that can contribute nearing the age of 40. Too skilled to just fall off like Rose or something. Capela is a baby. Teach him how to block out and some post moves and you have an all-star caliber player. Also, don't quote me but I have a good feeling about Zhou. I think he's going to be a gem and will be a key player coming off the bench. I think he's going to find his shot and he has that modern NBA build and shot blocking instincts. Also, Morey. Morey won't sit on his hands. We'll get better.
I think this might be it. This might be what turns me off an absolute love for the game and more of a 'catch games if I can be bothered' fan. I am so emotionally spent after this series. I can't do it to myself again, especially knowing the other team did absolutely nothing to beat us.
I agree. I couldn't manage to go to any bars to watch this game and had to watch them alone because it's an emotional roller coaster. The hard part is: How much better can we get next year? Even if we started the season 24-4 it would be hard to get too excited wondering if this is how I will feel again in May. We all knew that whoever won this series would win the NBA championship. That's what really hurts. It's not like last year when we lost to the Spurs. If we weren't good enough to beat them then there's no way we were beating the Warriors last year.
Rockets vs. Sonics 1993 Kings vs. Lakers 2002 Rockets vs. Mavericks 2005 Maverics vs. Heat 2006 Rockets vs. Warriors 2018 The entire Donaghy scandal (with connections to Scott Foster) All the above, (and I'm sure some series I've forgotten) lead me to believe with sadness one of 2 possibilities: 1) The NBA scripts outcomes it desires, for monetary or other reasons OR 2) Officials in the NBA are allowed to go rogue with no repercussions. As fans, we have seen how the NBA has dealt with this in the past (essentially swept it under the rug). The chances this changes is extremely small. This leaves me as a fan with 2 choices: 1) Accept it as the way it is and make the best of it knowing its never going to change. 2) Say farewell to a sport I love knowing I can't support in good faith any entity that is not honest at its core. Its deeply saddening. It's not just a matter of my team losing...which I can get past. It's the sport itself that has been betrayed and in turn betrays all of us as fans.
"connections" Donaghy’s phone records for one of those days, Dec. 30, obtained by Fox News, reveal the following: — 10:34 a.m. – Donaghy calls Foster. — 10:35 a.m. – Donaghy calls another referee. — 10:36 a.m. – Donaghy calls Martino, the “middleman” between him and his bookie. — 10:39 a.m. – Donaghy calls Foster. — 5:15 p.m. – Donaghy calls Martino. — 5:23 p.m. – Donaghy calls Martino. — 7 p.m. – Donaghy referees game between the Miami Heat and the Orlando Magic. The Magic win in a rout, 97-68. — 8 p.m. – Foster referees a game between the Toronto Raptors and the Memphis Grizzlies in Memphis. The Grizzlies win 110-104. Foster and Donaghy speak 12 minutes after the game. — 11:27 p.m. – Foster and Donaghy speak for at least the fourth time of the day. — 11:38 p.m. – Foster and Donaghy speak for at least the fifth time of the day. The following day, Donaghy spoke with Foster at 1:37 p.m., for two minutes. One minute later, at 1:40 p.m., Donaghy spoke to Martino, also for two minutes.
So, if the Rockets get LeBron and resign Paul, you won't get NBA League Pass to watch your favorite team?
I am kind of with OP, and I think if that happens I will only tune in to the GS elimination game and maybe the finals. I'm done.
If the Rockets made some of their open 3s this would have been a different game no doubt. I can't pin everything to the refs but to say that they had little to no effect on game 6 or 7 is asinine. The league really has made a change from the 2002 WCF (which IMO is the gold standard for referee influence) in how they may influence games. At the end of the day it still depends on teams making shots. If Houston made their shots in game 6 after the first quarter and last night there really isnt much the officials could do. I think thats what actually happened in game 6. The Rockets hot shooting really made it so nothing could be done. If the refs started to do what happened back in 02 and started to send the Warriors to the line then it would be way too obvious and probably would have made it on to a lot of network shows as a major talking point. They want to stay away from this as much as possible. So many people are "box score watchers" and will immediately say whenever a team has significantly more FTAs than the other team as it being "rigged" against the other team. Its the easiest way since so many people do not even watch the entire game. So now whats the plan? Actually do not call any fouls at all when needed. Rockets got hammered going towards the basket with no call, Warriors were allowed to play significantly more aggressive defense without consequence. All this led to the Rockets getting out of sync and rhythm and gave the Warriors the extra break needed to develop a rhythm and get back into the game. Once a team like GS gets going they are incredibly hard to stop which is really all the refs needed to do, make sure GS can get one of their 18-4 spurts in. It is actually far more demoralizing to the team not getting the calls because an already tough task is even tougher. Add in the Chris Paul injury the Rockets really had no chance at all despite their effort last night (which IMO was the best effort energy wise I've seen all season). Traditional NBA theory says that when you are shooting poor whats the best way to get back into a groove? Go to the free throw line and see a few shots go in. The Rockets were not allowed to do that either. And its really obvious too -- the league must have heard all the complaints about game 6 so what happens? 4 quick fouls are called on the Warriors in the first 90 seconds of the game. When that happened I was like oh well they aren't going to get anymore calls now. And sure enough there amount of contact allowed once the Rockets were actually in the penalty was crazy. There was one play where Harden was tripped and fell into the lane with no call. The remaining fouls the rest of the quarter? Klay on Harden on the 3 pointer around the 8:21 mark, then intentional foul on Capela by Quinn Cook around 6:30 and finally Looney on Harden around 1:30 in the first. The Rockets got 5 FTA the rest of the quarter -- really only 3 since one was an intentional to send Capela to the line. Thats just absurd but little things like this stopped the narrative. I remember seeing on twitter and it was mentioned on the broadcast too that it looks like this game will be reffed differently with all the early fouls, but all I could think of was no they aren't going to get any more calls now and sure enough thats what happened. Warriors shot 14 FTs and the Rockets 22 -- 6 of which were intentional Capela fouls so really 16 of the FTs were forced by the Rockets. Thats a difference of 2 FTs. I can think of at least 12 FTAs the Rockets were not given (Harden two 3s, 4 point play waved off, another 3 called on the floor given 2 fts instead of 3, Ariza and Gordon drives). if they hit 75% of those (most likely more than that given who would have been shooting them) it would have been a tied game. Whats great about the non-call approach is that once the game is out of reach the refs can easily adjust fouls to make it seem to the box score watchers that FTAs and fouls were even across the board and its far easier to defend something not called vs something that is called. Gordon knocked to the floor? I had a bad angle and could not see the contact, I was focused on the contact around the release and not the body (for running into the body on 3s) etc. I fully expect the league will try to employ this strategy going forward instead of trying to grant one team excessive amount of FTAs like Kings/Lakers. Also they can do this with a team like GS where its a matter of WHEN they'll get hot and knock down shots not IF. To be honest if the Rockets just came out flat energy wise and and played lethargic I wouldn't even be upset at the refs at all, but they played hard really hard and unfortunately could not over come the loss of Paul. The missed shots really hurt but to have legitimate potential points taken away from them is just hard to accept.
we need to build around media popularity. too many people don't like our team. they don't like harden, they really don't like paul, they don't take MDA seriously. you have to build a popular team for the nba to allow you to play in the finals.
