I believe I called this loss as soon as I saw RA playing the starters 40 mins even when we were up by 15 pts. You just don't play guys 40 mins then expect 'em to play well against a tougher opponent in Denver's high altitude. For some reason RA seems to think his players are inexhaustible, and can put out major minutes without any dropoff. People blame Ariza and the refs, and they definitely played a part, but imho coaching (or lack of) played a part as well. This game is winnable if C-Bud, Landry and Brooks played like they played last game. Instead you had Chase and Landry come out firing blanks, against one of the top teams in the west. Scola shoots 4-5 but only 27 mins? What are RA's assistants doing? Its their job to monitor details like these
Wow the 4th quarter was hard to watch. I seemed like we had a stretch of 6 or 7 possessions in a row that were ended in a whistle of some sort. Didn't know David Andersen could hit threes, pleasant surprise
I think it would suffice to make a video of each of Landry's "fouls" tonight. Freaking priceless. The two Nene flops and then the technical on him after he got smacked and maliciously twirled around until he hit Nene with his undoubtedly sharp fingertips...my god. Ref #38 was on the take. After the game had been decided the other refs started to do make up calls for him, just to make the final numbers seem less absurd.
I second that. I'm struggling to find any other rational explanation for the degree and quantity of blown calls. I don't think it's a coincidence that the officiating went from bad to unbelievably bad late in the game when the Rockets were unexpectedly keeping it close.
Where is Tim Donaghy when you need him? Entertainment and not sport for sure. I say David Stern has ruined my favorite sport. WOW, the refs in the NCAA are better then these NBA hitman crooks. Flopping IS being rewarded! Houston has always been the team to waste. RA has always been the coach to buffalo. Why do I keep spending money here? So I can watch the refs kick my team to the curb every chance they get? In this recession I should keep my money in my pocket. Stern needs to go. Rant over.
So which are you saying? A. You think the officiating was great, or B. There's yet another thing you don't like about the Rockets.
Just got back from the game. Amazing experience. We were two rows back of the Rockets bench. I told Landry he was 6th man of the year, and got a good response from him. And Hayes gave me a fist pump when I called him an offensive powerhouse. Also talked briefly with Bill Worrell at halftime in the crowd. Did you guys see the play where they flipped Lowry over when he drove to the basket. I think it was Afflalo that undercut him. Wow. Can't believe the awful string of calls toward the end of the game. Landry got a bad call and kinda threw up his hand like he was disregarding the refs, and he just got hammered after that, although he seemed to reasonably keep his cool. Not sure why they hammered him so badly. Really ruined the game. AB also got some horrible no calls, I think, twice in a row. It was more than a few minutes where it was like they just didn't give us a chance to do anything. Awful.
There isn't much to say other than the rockets lost to the better team. A good team that also plays hard and have experience and the best player on the floor.No refs,no coaching, just a more talented team.
3 things before I go to bed 1. Those refs had a serious foot fetish....staring at our feet all night. 2. Ariza and Stromile are starting to look just alike....no seriously...I wonder if statistical genious DM counts I.Q as a statistic. 3. If I was a ref, I would have taken the Rockets most effecient go to scorer out of the game too..... Goodnight!
Wow Landry got royally screwed on 3 straight flop calls. I don't think the refs cost us the game but I do think the NBA is a terrible product and has been for a long time. Acting shouldn't be such a game-changing event and it's rather embarrassing out of control this has gotten while Stern continues to not give a f#$k.
It wouldn't really be a highlight clip, but I'd like to see a video of McGrady's performance tonight. And pretty much every night for the next 6 or 7 games. :grin:
Those stats are telling indeed. The problem that I saw was that it was Ariza who was almost always holding the ball and it was not moving around like it should. CBud too was not given a lot of minutes which were given to the inept Arizal. This one is on the coach but the refs certainly determined the outcome of the game. Score one for Stern and the Donaghy Refs.
