bearister said:

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Anyone for a new NBA rule to minimize flopping? How would you articulate the rule?

Mine would be encourage refs to make flop calls and then all flop calls are subject to automatic review. If the call is affirmed then it is a technical foul. The flop was unheard of when I was growing up since it was considered unmanly to ever act like contact had any effect on you. When did the flop era begin? Was it Bill Laimbeer?

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The Rocket's should familiarize themselves with Aesop's fable The Boy Who Cried Wolf if they want an explanation for why they received less than generous officiating yesterday. Not to worry, the refs will more than make up for it in Texas.

And Harden elbowed/pushed off on Green. Green was getting back to his spot when Harden landed on him.

Harden should quit complaining about not getting favorable calls for splaying his shooting stance and focus instead on playing team ball.

Chubby Chris Paul should lose a little belly girth and get his eyes examined (wink-wink). He clearly bumped the official . . . probably by accident . . . but he's in denial.

Coach D'Antoni has pathetically strayed weeping and wailing into his hero's complaining game.

The conspiracy theories out there regarding a Warrior officiating advantage are rampant. Apparently "older" refs give the dubs a huge edge especially as it relates to the leg kick out call. 14 of 47 from three is the stat I look at

If Chris Paul isn't suspended a game for bumping the ref, then I don't ever want to hear Rockets fans (or Warriors haters) complaining that the league favors the Warriors. Dray would be suspended for the rest of the series if he did what Paul did.

BearSD said:

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....Dray would be suspended for the rest of the series if he did what Paul did...

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Nene basically getting away with a very fast forearm smash to Green was one of the highlights for me. Green has had that coming for years. I would still take Tucker in a fight against anyone on the court. He has that quiet demeanor common among big time Bad A$$es.

bearister said:

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Nene basically getting away with a very fast forearm smash to Green was one of the highlights for me.

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He didn't get away with it. He got called for a foul for it. And because it was such an inconsequential shove, it didn't get a flagrant.

F both those punks.

Seems like the Rockets' foul hunting is organization-wide.

http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/26634745/rockets-audited-18-game-7-say-finals-bid-taken

If I'm the dubs, I think the offensive strategy moving forward seems fairly obvious.

You get an early switch to get harden to defend kd, then you get him the ball in the mid post. And you do that over and over again (just like Houston runs the same play over and over). Either kd completely cooks harden and/or harden gets in foul trouble and/or harden gets tired and/or Houston starts double teaming which opens up the rest of your offense.

Normally i don't like the dubs playing iso ball, but a) I'm not sure klay and Steph are completely healthy so it's difficult for them to run around and get open as they usually would and b) the only way the dubs lose this is if they keep turning the ball over. You play iso and you should cut down on the stupid turnovers (in theory).

They should probably start the game playing with their normal offense, just to see if Steph and klay are their normal selves. If not, go to the kd iso offense early and often until harden begs for mercy.

Harden flops, etc., to take advantage of the way the game is played -- as do many players.

The Warriors are really in no position to complain after the NBA said Curry should have fouled out. Twice. If he's not in the game, everything changes down the stretch.

All in all, Golden State should count itself lucky to have won game one. Playing better is the best antidote to uneven officiating, and hopefully that will happen tonight.

Hilarious. Rockets complain publicly about refs.

Nba's Response? Here, enjoy Scott foster you f'ers

http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/26639280/rockets-least-favorite-referee-working-game-2

It's amazing the obsession the Rockets have with the officiating...still have to play defense and puttee ball in the basket.

sycasey said:

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Seems like the Rockets' foul hunting is organization-wide.

http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/26634745/rockets-audited-18-game-7-say-finals-bid-taken

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So the officials missed almost 2 calls every minute and no one else noticed this? And, by the way, that would have made for an awesome game for the spectators.

You shoot 16% from 3, miss 27 straight, score 15 points in a quarter when you have the lead, and your response is to blame the officials?

It is one thing to complain about a few calls. This is plain poor sportsmanship. Would love to see the Warriors just destroy them.

Maybe they should look at the fact that their star point guard's assist production tends to drop significantly in the playoffs and their star scorer's shooting percentages tend to drop significantly in the playoffs rather than look at the officiating. Maybe they should think about finding players who don't disappear when it matters.

OaktownBear said:

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sycasey said:

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Seems like the Rockets' foul hunting is organization-wide.

http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/26634745/rockets-audited-18-game-7-say-finals-bid-taken

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So the officials missed almost 2 calls every minute and no one else noticed this? And, by the way, that would have made for an awesome game for the spectators.

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I think they need to stop whining and complaining about the refs which happens to apply to almost every team in the NBA.

But, to be fair to them the league released their last 2 minute report on game 1 and the refs missed 3 calls in the last 1:30 of the game.

And the NBA has got to be the dumbest league of them all to make Scott Foster a ref for tonight's game. The officiating was the biggest topic of conversation about game 1 for a league that has had more controversies about officiating than any other not named the Pac12 (see Tim Donaghy). They better hope that nothing remotely controversial happens with officials tonight or else they will have to hear about it up until Saturday.

edit: meant to put the emoticon after the Pac12

NVGolfingBear said:

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It's amazing the obsession the Rockets have with the officiating...still have to play defense and puttee ball in the basket.

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With Harden's approach, you don't need to make shots, you just need to fool the ref into calling a foul whenever you shoot, and then hit the free throws.

I am curious, how many of the missed calls were Harden pushing with his off hand on drives?

They're not as efficient in the playoffs because they're not getting the same calls they rely on.

Free tip to those in the seats that cost major $$$:

How about putting your phone in your purse occasionally to watch the f@ckng game.

When is Harden going to stop squinting? His 3 is falling. It is a non issue.

It's over. Utah looks fresh and tough however

cal83dls79 said:

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It's over. Utah looks fresh and tough however

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Utah is out. You mean Denver?

sycasey said:

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cal83dls79 said:

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It's over. Utah looks fresh and tough however

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Utah is out. You mean Denver?

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yeah Denver. They look fresh. But looking ahead. The gauntlet in the Western is crazy, sadly PORTLAND has had too many injuries but rooting for them

West is brutal and klay with sprained ankle, and curry with sprained ankle (his kyptonite) and now dislocated finger (at least on his off hand

Losing that early game to clippers was costly

With warriors lack of depth their starters playing heavy minutes and expect another dog fight in Houston

sycasey said:

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Another dumb Warriors home loss with terrible defense. Not beating Houston next round.

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Well?

concordtom said:

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So, who is going to join me in predicting that the Rockets win this series?
Curry and Klay both injured.
Warriors depth sucks.
Rockets hungrier.

What are the odds?
I would not be surprised one bit.

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And now?

Yogi Bear said:

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sycasey said:

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Another dumb Warriors home loss with terrible defense. Not beating Houston next round.

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Well?

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The series ain't over, but I expected the Rockets to get at least one of those first two. Instead they got in their own heads because of refereeing and blew their chance in Game 1.

Obviously a team up 2-0 has a big advantage so I would no longer pick Houston at this point.

sycasey said:

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Yogi Bear said:

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sycasey said:

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Another dumb Warriors home loss with terrible defense. Not beating Houston next round.

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Well?

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The series ain't over, but I expected the Rockets to get at least one of those first two. Instead they got in their own heads because of refereeing and blew their chance in Game 1.

Obviously a team up 2-0 has a big advantage so I would no longer pick Houston at this point.

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If they win 4 out of the next 5, they'll have earned it. I wouldn't put any money on it though.

cal83dls79 said:

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sycasey said:

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cal83dls79 said:

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It's over. Utah looks fresh and tough however

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Utah is out. You mean Denver?

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yeah Denver. They look fresh. But looking ahead. The gauntlet in the Western is crazy, sadly PORTLAND has had too many injuries but rooting for them

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I would argue that all four teams in the east are better than both Portland and Denver

ducky23 said:

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cal83dls79 said:

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sycasey said:

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cal83dls79 said:

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It's over. Utah looks fresh and tough however

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Utah is out. You mean Denver?

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yeah Denver. They look fresh. But looking ahead. The gauntlet in the Western is crazy, sadly PORTLAND has had too many injuries but rooting for them

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I would argue that all four teams in the east are better than both Portland and Denver

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I don't think Denver matches up well with the Warriors. Regular season games aren't everything, but they got destroyed every time the two teams played.

I thought Houston would win the series, but I was wrong. They just don't have enough weapons ...

That said, though, if the Rockets win both in Houston, then it's a three-game series and anything could happen.

And note that after this three-day break, the final four games will be every other day, which may impact Iguodala's effectiveness and availability.

Dubs in 5.

ClayK said:

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I thought Houston would win the series, but I was wrong. They just don't have enough weapons ...

That said, though, if the Rockets win both in Houston, then it's a three-game series and anything could happen.

And note that after this three-day break, the final four games will be every other day, which may impact Iguodala's effectiveness and availability.

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Kerr has to give more minutes to the bench in the games in Houston, regardless of whether it increases the Rockets' chances of winning those games. Have to have a relatively fresh Iggy in game 5 if it gets that far.

ClayK said:

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I thought Houston would win the series, but I was wrong. They just don't have enough weapons ...

That said, though, if the Rockets win both in Houston, then it's a three-game series and anything could happen.

And note that after this three-day break, the final four games will be every other day, which may impact Iguodala's effectiveness and availability.

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For what it's worth, Vegas is warriors -700, which equates to 87.5% chance the warriors win the series. Those are very steep odds

OaktownBear said:

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sycasey said:

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Seems like the Rockets' foul hunting is organization-wide.

http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/26634745/rockets-audited-18-game-7-say-finals-bid-taken

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So the officials missed almost 2 calls every minute and no one else noticed this? And, by the way, that would have made for an awesome game for the spectators.

You shoot 16% from 3, miss 27 straight, score 15 points in a quarter when you have the lead, and your response is to blame the officials?

It is one thing to complain about a few calls. This is plain poor sportsmanship. Would love to see the Warriors just destroy them.

Maybe they should look at the fact that their star point guard's assist production tends to drop significantly in the playoffs and their star scorer's shooting percentages tend to drop significantly in the playoffs rather than look at the officiating. Maybe they should think about finding players who don't disappear when it matters.

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My favorite is where they complain about a missed foul against themselves - Looney got the ball and was fouled, but there was no call. Later in the same possession, Durant hit a 3. They claim that missed call on Looney cost them 2 points because he's a 60% free throw shooter and thus would have made 1 of 2.

This "report" really might be the stupidest things I've ever read in sports.

Games 1 and 2 were evenly matched.

HOU is more than capable of tying the series up 2-2.

HOU does a better job at exploiting match ups. Why GS doesn't switch in order to attack their weak/small defenders like Harden all day is beyond me. Durant settles for fall away jumpers against inferior and smaller players. We're so used to him hitting them, but they won't always go down.