If we are going to be a contending team we need to be more adverse then only being good when harden is hitting. We have d12 one of the best centers in the league, we have three pt shooters, dmo has a post game, we have good defense that should get us transition baskets.
It's hard being a Harden fan. I suspect that in a few seasons other teams are probably going to try to enforce "the Harden rule" where a player can't drive in to the lane for a layup and purposely stick the ball out so the other player accidentally hacks the offensive player for a foul. I can already see it happening. No one likes how Harden manipulates the defenses. Coaches and players are constantly complaining. The refs and Silver will have to reluctantly set in place the rule. Kind of like how Stern and the refs made the "you cant jump into a person for a foul" rule. It's going to happen. I already know it is.
I agree in principle, but the game was so close until the final minutes that it wasn't in the team's best interest to 'take a T for the team.' At least we aren't Detroit Lions fans . . .
FT discrepancy? Sure, but you can't ignore that harden was totally prevented from driving due to butler's stellar defense and the rest of the squads perimeter D really stifled our three pt shooting. We were way below our season average. The fact that we were still in the game despite being gameplanned so effectively by thibs IS a testament to McHale and the rest of the squad. We would have been blown out in this game last year and we still need a penetrator/creator to take pressure off harden
we are lucky for being taken away 3pt shot... cause we suck at 3pt shooting... we have DMo but we were not going to him enough...DMO already proved in cuople of games he can score under pressure... to bad harden didnt foul out this time so we would be forced to go to DMO...
The writing has been on the wall for a long time OP and fellow Rockets fans. Do we not remember the Yao and Tracy era. Shots we could go back to the Dream era. The league and it's officials never liked the Rockets. Oh and what happened to that rule that was put in place for flopping? I thought they were trying to clean that nonsense up. Lol looks like they are trying to promote it against certain teams.
Stats don't lie...(posted in Game Thread) No, not going to blame refs all year…but when the shoe fits. Just watched the last 5 minutes of the game again…yes there was some major defensive breakdowns, but those calls cost us big time. When the other team outscores you 27-3 at the free throw line, and gets call after call after call, and you get no calls; even on blatant hacks, holds & all sorts of contact…something is wrong with the officiating. Harden this season is averaging 7.9 Free Throws from 8.9 attempts (on 18.9FGA). He is 5.7 from 6.7 attempts for his career, but in the last 5 games he is 4.0 made from 4.2 attempts (still on 18.8FGA)… Month - Free throws made - Free Throw attempted October: 10.0-11.0 November: 8.5-9.5 December: 8.0-9.1 January: 3.3-3.3 (3 games) It seems like the 'Yao' memo has been sent out to officials regarding Harden…Call it a conspiracy, but the stats don't lie. Still taking the same amount of shots, same amount of 3 point attempts, same drives, BUT NOT GETTING THE CALLS! It's time for Morey or McHale to get a huge fine & call out the officials. On another note, yes our defence needs to get back on point, and our new players need a little time to gel…but don't tell me that we didn't get royally shafted by the officiating tonight, & in the past few games…Heck, even Dwight has gone from averaging just under 9 Free throw attempts per game to only 3.7 per in January, which is ridiculous considering how much contact he has to endure in the post. Maybe it's time for Dwight to brutally 'Mutombo' someone's grill, maybe it'll make them think twice about shoving, hacking and holding him. One or two well times accidentally on purpose elbows to the bridge of the nose, above the eye or right in the kisser & I guarantee that players will think twice about swarming Dwight.
I could give you a list, but it's 1:15am Down Under... There was a lot of off the ball holding & grabbing, esp on Dwight & Harden when they went to either rebound or contest shots. Watch the last few minutes, you see Harden approach ref & say...'He's holding me.' Anyway, sleep time...still fuming.
The roughing up of Howard is a big problem. The officials seemed to allow a lot of contact with no calls one way. Its fine if thats going both ways but they have no problem calling Dwight for any little ticky tack call. He is one of the few superstars who dont get those "superstar" calls. Not to mention Gasol's flops were just comical and the refs continue to reward him. Chicago played good defense but not THAT good. Had they called this game exactly the same both ways it would probably have been 30-18 free throws but 30-5 is just silly.
I'm tired of some of you blaming the team for the refs. Talking about if they wouldn't have played dumb ball it shouldn't have gotten out of hand. How about speaking up for the team and realizing that the game was rigged. Stop looking for every opportunity to prove you're not being a homer by being blatantly stupid.
Its the Yao and Shaq effect. They're so big that somehow refs think smaller defenders can hack on them to have a chance to defend them. Shaq was great at playing through those "fouls" and Yao was pretty good at it also. Howard not so much, that's why its even more frustrating as fans. I know it's not fair, but Howard needs to fight through that and finish strong. It's the same story we saw with Yao. Nothing new.
Yes the refs were not consistant but a Championship team learns to deal with that kind of crap. Harden should have attacked and if he didn't get a call he should have drawn a tech. Kobe did that all the time till he finally got the ref's attention. Harden needs to stop being so shy.
The officiating was not bad because of missed calls against us, it was because they were not consistent. They called touch fouls on the Rockets all game everytime a bulls player flopped. (Harden and Howard Charges at the end) The most obvious charge of the game was when Taj Gibson ran over Josh Smith and they did not call a thing. Josh Smith was called for at least 3 or 4 touch fouls in this game. The only player that can really complain about fouls is Ariza. I saw him get hacked a few times with no call. Then he even tried to intentionally foul a guy to make a point and the refs didn't call that either.
Bulls were shooting too well for Houston to not get to the free throw line and still win. Best thing you can say is in the playoffs it's the best of 7.
