I think we're going to have to get over whoever it is, and decide to play well enough to win regardless which way the calls tend towards. Doesn't seem like we ever get a lot of help, and the best we usually can hope for is a fairly officiated game, so better decide, on LA grounds, that we are going to play our best basketball yet.
No, they're making excuses in case McHale runs that "lack of effort and intensity" strategy you were referring to in your other thread.
NBA games have alot to do with who is officiating..every crew has certain Characteristics...what do u think the purpose of the NBA releasing game assignments at 9 am each day is...it's for a reason..
That's good news, the more I thought about Joey, the more it made me think it could also work against us. I don't know any of the 3 and I don't think they are very controversial.
Wow in the playoffs win % of home teams for Scott Foster is .12 & Pat Fraher is only .25%??? SWEEET! Good for that trend...but might not be good if you factor in law of averages
That point differential aint bad either. Looking good so far for the Rockets. Just come out and play hard.
None of this matters unless Harden is being super aggressive and attacking the basket. It also won't matter unless Ariza, Terry, Jones, Smith, and Brewer actually show a pulse on the offensive side of the ball. We're going to need at least 3 of them to have it going tonight. And perhaps most importantly, none of this will matter if we revert back to defensive form from Games 3 & 4.
I disagree with the folks that think we can disregard the referees and just play harder. When friends asked me who I thought would win game 5 I said it would depend on if they've decided to let Harden get to the line or not. It feels like a completely arbitrary decision made by 3 random individuals. We don't need referees to call the game in our favor. We don't even need them to be fair and balanced. We just need a group that lets Harden get to the line in a similar way he's gotten there all year, and a group that doesn't penalize Dwight for being big and strong. Griffin gets to the line regardless of the refs. Harden doesn't. His game is different. It's on the refs.
He just reffed our Game 5 on Tues. They don't ref back-2-back games in the same playoff series. That was Ken Mauer, he was in Oakland last night for MEM-GS
This has some validity, but it completely disregards any defensive adjustments the Clippers have made, and any relentless driving Harden has done in response. McHale even talked about it post game 5, about how they stopped attacking in prior games and needed to keep the pressure on the refs in the future with their constant high-contact attack games of Harden and Howard.
