The Golden State Warriors went up 1-0 in their Western Conference Semifinals matchup with the Houston Rockets on Sunday, but the actual outcome of the game has been buried underneath the Rockets disgust with the officiating, something that’s been brewing since the two teams met in the Western Conference Finals last summer.
After combing through the video, the Rockets believe there were eight attempted three-pointers on which their players were fouled in Game 1, many of them having to do the the NBA’s “landing space” rule, which works to protect a shooter by keeping the defender from stepping underneath the shooter’s feet when he lands. It’s since been revealed that the Rockets made a case to the NBA that the Warriors receive favorable officiating that cost them the WCF, fueled by the same data collection operation that has put the Rockets at the forefront of the analytics revolution.
Warriors head coach Steve Kerr wasn’t exactly thrilled with Houston’s effort to badger the league with their complaints. He began his session with the media at Warriors practice on Monday by pretending to flop into a reporter to get a foul, a glimpse into what he feels James Harden is doing on his three-pointers, before expressing dismay at the Rockets very loud attempts to influence the refereeing.
Steve Kerr enters his presser, flops on a reporter and jokes it should be a foul. He then discusses the noise coming out of the Rockets camp at length. pic.twitter.com/KS0PC8DmvE
— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) April 29, 2019
“It’s disappointing, because the focus should be on two teams playing extremely hard,” Kerr said. “We just watched the tape upstairs, and you don’t think there were 10 calls that we thought we got fouled? This is how it goes. It’s very, very difficult to officiate an NBA game. There’s a lot of gray area, and in the modern game, players have gotten really good at deception.”
But with all the work Houston has done compiling data on just how they think officiating has cost them games, specifically against the Warriors, the focus on the officials will continue to dominate this series, no matter how much Kerr wishes it wouldn’t. The spotlight will be back on them for Game 2, and it will be fascinating to see how they call shooting fouls, especially when it’s Harden launching from beyond. This controversy is just getting started.
