Zach Lowe: Warriors cheat in a better way than the Rockets

If the NBA were played like hockey, Nene would be in a fist fight with the Warriors at least once a game.

 

The employment of human referees is antiquated. Btw AI and instant replay. There’s no reason the league shouldn’t move to AI and computers.

Heck. With less complexity. They should have done this with baseball umps a long time ago!!!!

 

Seems you don't know much about AI and computers?

 

People make fun of fighting in hockey but it is a deterrent from smaller guys (Draymond) going around punking everyone. They know they could get their butt beat by someone twice their size. It's such a physical sport that there has to be a sort of gentleman's code of where the line is.

 

I'd give him credit for straight out saying that the Warriors do cheat and do whine a lot to the refs. To me, that's a pretty groundbreaking thing in mainstream media.

 

Lowe says in the article:

More like EVERYONE outside of Houston is framing it that way.

 

THIS IS GOLD! This post is EXACTLY what is going on here. TopFive if you are on twitter you need to tweet that!

 

Get your cheat on

 

Take a moment and ponder this string of events

• Game 1. Harden is LEGIT fouled on MULTIPLE 3pt shots. Landing Zone. TV announcers agreed. NBA Twitter agreed. Javie agreed. At halftime NBA officials agreed and said they missed calls. Everyone agrees and is outraged. You could see this on twitter. Not even JUST Rockets fans. It was EVERYONE.

• Said "missed calls" continued in the 2nd half (after already apologizing for missing the 1st half ones.). You could see the Rockets frustration mounting.

• Harden DESPERATELY hoping to get a call, embellishes *1* landing zone call that is not called.

• After the game, the STORY is NOT the *agreed upon injustice of missed calls* BUT RATHER *Harden tricking refs.*

Just stop and re-read what you just read.

THIS is the a PRIME example of MEDIA with an agenda. The above are dry facts. HOW the media re-packages the events (what it takes and what it LEAVES OUT) to give their side of the story is everything.

 

Tim Duncan and Kevin Garnett didn’t set a legal screen for the the last decade of their career. This is nothing new.

 

i'm starting to get tired of this "argument".... if one style of play works and the other doesn't, why in gods name do you purposely choose the style that doesn't work?!? im all for our analytical approach to the game, but terrible officiating has always been a part of the game, and unless they make a massive move towards technology, will always be a part of the game.

it's hands down one of harden's biggest flaws and he routinely plays into it. instead of working to make an actual scoring move, his goal is instead to get the ref, someone he has absolutely ZERO control over, to blow the whistle. he did it at the end of game 1 when he settled for a horrendous 3 that barely caught the rim bc he was more concerned with getting the call than making the shot.

our 3's and FT's approach is great in the regualr season when you play a team once and then move on. but in the playoffs, when teams have time to study your schemes and deliberately work to counter them, the fact that an admittedly large portion of your strategy is to rely on an independent third party (the refs) whom you have no control over is foolish. if you purposely refuse to make serious adjustments to counter what the other team is or isn't giving you, that's beyond the pale foolish.

the refs suck. they will ALWAYS suck. so why do we continue to let them beat us? if Morey, MDA and Harden don't realize that or simply refuse to adjust for it then we get what we deserve. drop the basketball dogma and do what it takes to win the f***ing game.

 

And not a single person in the media has called out Klay Thompson for his reckless undercutting, that's all fine apparently, just good defense.

Narratives over facts, all the time. It's disgusting

 

Love some unbiased media

 

Warriors cheat is to hurt the players make them unable to play. They are very clever

 

This is simply not true and not the way the world works. Harden developed the step back 3 and the floater specifically to resolve many of these issues. He is trying to take and make good shots, not get fouled. THEY FOUL HIM ON THREES. WHO THE HELL ELSE DO YOU HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT THAT? What does that say about how dangerous Harden is to other teams? Why has Golden State tried so hard to hurt Harden? You equate him getting fouled to trying to get fouled. Did you ever consider that he just knows he is going to get fouled so he plans around it? Have you ever counted how many times Harden is fouled in a game for real? I bet you haven't and it will shock you. As a hint, everyone guarding him would foul out if they mildly called it legitimately. If you begin to understand that concept you will understand why he has done what he has over the years to make refs aware.

You want the Rockets to abandon the three game because the refs are rigged but refuse to acknowledge its rigged. Is the other team going to magically stop fouling the Rockets and Harden? Hell no. Yes, let's act like that problem doesn't exist. Game 7 should have taught you everything. When the Rockets tried to go inside the Warriors laughed as they fouled the Rockets every time going to the basket with no calls. They knew it was rigged. They want to turn the Rockets into a horribly spaced team shooting long 2s. The other option is there for a reason, to make the Rockets predictable and STUPID. Part of winning is enforcing your will on the other team. 93 POINTS. You can overcome a call here or there. 93 POINTS IS AN AGENDA. IT HAPPENED BEFORE THE TEAM EVER ENTERED THE ARENA.

 

Steph Curry does the same exact thing with the landing thing. He did it multiple times last night.

 

In the post-game press conference, Draymond Green was talking about how the Rockets were willing to do what was necessary to win while the Warriors were following the rules. He said it starts with him to change that next game. The Rockets need to show that tape to the refs prior to the game so when the Warriors start trying their cheap shot BS it gets called early and there is a stop to it.

I don't think it's a surprise that the Warriors, in part, blamed the loss on the Rockets being more physical or breaking the rules or all of their complaints. It is, after all, what is on their mind. It's what they do. The Rockets don't really talk about it as much because it isn't who they have to be to win. I hate the Warriors.

 

I hate the tricking the refs argument so much. Refs watch tape. If Harden was tricking them they would stop calling the fouls. There is no reason for them to knowingly be tricked every night by Harden.

 

it just makes no sense, and every time I ask a Harden hater why the refs would knowingly fall for his tricks every year since 2012, they either never reply or completely duck the question

Fool me once, shame on u, but fool me for 82 games a season since 2012-13? People really believe that’s happening? Lol. The notion that Harden is actually getting fouled which is why the refs keep blowing their whistles is unfathomable to them.