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OAKLAND, Calif. – The worst case scenario for the NBA, its fans and the game itself is that the Golden State vs. Warriors series. Houston Rockets is reduced to one level, he said, he said during his speech.
It's a rematch that has lasted for a year, perhaps the one that will determine the champion of this season, as it was last season. History and legacy are at stake – that's what type of series. Then there are the short-term consequences, especially the consequences for free will.
But the angle of the official could be inevitable.
The Rockets have a strategy that pushes the boundaries of the rules, while the Warriors are as sneaky as any team in history. They are both fantastic in what they do. And they are both relentless in arbitration – there have been four techniques and an ejection in the first game.
Nobody wanted the first game – a lousy but still very competitive and entertaining friendly match that ended in a victory of 104-100 Warriors – to be defined by calls or no-calls. But, for the most part, it was. There may be no end in sight.
It's easy to forget that there are three teams in the field at all times. Ideally, one of them remains anonymous and forgettable. The stakes and the nature of these teams make it very difficult.
When the referees get ready for the matches, they come back to the film and the trends, just like the teams. It is well known that the Rockets have a penchant for fouls on 3 points. This is part of their attack. James Harden drew 95 fouls on 3 points this season. He is one of the best in the history of the game.
It was clear that part of Golden State's game plan was to bring Houston's three-pointers together. And Houston's game plan involves 3-point shooters who wring their bodies and tear their arms in their defenders. Both teams are doing well.
So this is it. Harden, one of the best hitters of all time for a foul, takes a 3-pointer to try to tie the game tied. Draymond Green, one of the great defenders of this era, challenges himself.
The green is in the Harden area. Harden puts his legs in a vertical position towards Green and turns on the ground. Two officials, Courtney Kirkland and Josh Tiven, staring at each other and calling nothing.
"Call the game as it's supposed to be called and that's all," said Harden. "And I'll live with the results, but most of all we know what happened a few years ago with Kawhi [Leonard]. This can change the entire series. "
Harden refers to Leonard, victim of Zaza Pachulia, in the first game of the Western Conference Finals in 2017. It is a reference to the stakes. This game has changed this game, this series and maybe the champion of this season.
But then you listen to Green.
"When you land 3 feet in front of where you shoot, it's really not my problem," Green said. "I've already been stained by James on a 3 pointer James."
But here is the thing. After this crucial moment that was the culmination of an afternoon filled with this cat-and-mouse game, Chris Paul grabbed the offensive rebound with a cunning sprint to get into the painting. He was trying to send him back to Harden for another opportunity to tie up. But Harden was on the ground, out of the game. Put by, well, the circumstances. Call it a foul, call it a flop.
In a perfect world, he would have another chance, and Green another chance to stop him. But this is Rockets-Warriors in 2019. Instead, Paul found himself stuck and crushed Klay Thompson, triggering a new sequence of intense non-call that led to another technical foul and to Paul's ejection. Paul might have hit Tiven in the heat of the moment, another subject to be examined by the league office.
After the game, in the visiting locker room, the Rockets coach, Mike D Antoni, explained exactly what the rule was in terms of free space that a shooter was supposed to have when He was taking off. He knows the chapter and the verse, including the rights of the defender. It's a constant subject, since it's a big part of his team's work.
D'Antoni thought the Rockets should have had 20 more free throws.
Meanwhile, in the Warriors' locker room, they whispered that the Rockets had managed to put both hands on Kevin Durant when he was going to the basket, a rule violation. Durant is so dominant in his size and ability to shoot that once he has recovered the ball squared, there is really no way to stop him. The teams are doing everything in their power to prevent him from placing that ball over his head.
The Warriors felt that Durant should have been much more online.
It was just the arguments of the first match. In the second game, it may not be the 3-point landing fouls, it may be Harden's ability to create a contact to the basket. This is an absolute master. During Durant's use of the tearing motion, he is so used to that guys trying to slap the ball of the hands before relaunching it that he is an expert.
Harden finished the game with 14 free throws. Durant was 15 years old.
It's stultifying. That's not the way it should be regulated.
But now Paul is barking at the officials and being thrown into the air. Antoni screams. Green claims that he was wrong there. During chirp.
They are all so good at what they do. They are all so smart. They are all preparing the next call, the next match.
In such a competitive rivalry with such a narrow margin of error and one or two seams of bad blood, it may be what you have to accept. The search for an advantage is relentless between these two teams, it's part of their DNA.
"It's only the nature of the game we play," Green said. "Arbitration is an inexact science, so it's what it is."
J & # 39; imagine.
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