Pleasantly surprised to watch all 3 (Kenny, Shaq, Chuck) all agree the officiating was bad. Kenny was the most surprising saying from a shooters standpoint, ALL of the replays were showing fouls that were missed.
Interesting comment from EJ - he talked to Monty McCutchen (Vice President of referee development and training)
The last thing Shaq said is as important as any comment. Once they get away with this a couple of times, the shooter's concentration will remain split the rest of the game between making the shot and landing safely.
Kenny basically said what I said about the 4th foul. Harden had to be thinking "Okay, they already admitted they got some wrong AT half...I should probably get a makeup call for this." NOW, I don't think Harden shoots that three with the intention of getting fouled. A guy that has that many 4 point plays doesn't get them by accident. I think he just sold the contact Green gave him and the refs still didn't bite. Also Kenny saying the same thing about how it affects your mentality the rest of the game... Any ways, I do appreciate the guys were not split on this at all really.
I haven’t watched the video yet. Use spoilers! Actually, I didn’t think of that foul quite that way. It makes sense, at least to me. Certainly not impossible.
Very surprised of their reactions, but it seems most former players agree with the Rockets side, while our beloved media members who never played a sport in their life all have the same bias opinion
That's just embarrassing. The 3 former NBA players should be ashamed of themselves. Kenny? He started to talk about the missed calls on the Harden 3’s and Shaquille does his usual nonsensical mumbling and interrupts him. Shaq is useless on that show and brings it down. Chuck did his usual, “Well, the officials did this and that wrong,” and then proceeds to make wish washy excuses, like he always does. “The officials just had a bad day. They were tired.” He can’t have a straight forward opinion. I don’t know what he’s afraid of. Back to Kenny. He’s the worst of the 3. Why? Because he starts out strong, which was unusual for him, but then he says he agrees with Shaq, who hadn’t said anything coherent, and agrees with Chuck, who’s opinion was all over the place. The 4th guy, Ernie, is fine, but he’s not allowed by Shaq or Chuck to complete a sentence. Lost in it all are the blatant, flagrant fouls on Harden in the 1st half. There were more fouls, but those in the 1st half were irrefutable, and they are barely talked about. It’s embarrassing. I simply don’t see what’s so special about that segment. They may as well have been talking about where they were going for dinner after the show. It would have been just as useful, in my opinion.
Ok if TNT is now all agreeing there's no chance Harden won't get benefit of the doubt rest of the series
That does absolutely nothing for the 1st game being stolen by the refs! The damage has already taken place. All these talk shows that are pointing out the OBVIOUS fouls on Harden only make me more upset!! The refs (Silver) robbed us last year and are doing the same song/dance this year! THE NBA IS RIGGED!! ....... ....... .......
It took khawi leonard to be injured and rockets to have it taken in game 7 and now game 1. Even then ask 2002 kings how they feel.
If we win one there before Game 7, there will be no Game 7, barring another referee-rigged game. Our crowd is going to be unreal. We’re not going to let them win a game here.
The difference is the 2002 Kings were screwed in Game 6......but they still blew that series. Come up with the defensive rebound at the end of Game 4 and you're up 3-1. Don't go 16-30 from the foul line in Game 7 and you win in regulation instead of losing in OT. The Rockets were flat out screwed in Game 7 last year in the WCF by the non-calls and waived off 4-point play and never had a chance in a subsequent game to overcome that. That was it for them. At least the Kings had Game 7 at home which they lost fair and square. Hell, our subsequent game WAS Game 1 and we got screwed in that one too! Anyway, it's good that even the Inside the NBA crew which hasn't exactly shown a lot of love for the Rockets is acknowledging how badly Game 1 was officiated. I disagree with Chuck that it was simply due to a "bad day" for the refs. They admitted to D'Antoni at the half that they missed 4 foul calls and proceeded to miss even more in the second half. That's either an incompetent group of officials or a corrupt one. We'll see how Game 2 goes down, but the league has to know they cannot afford another close loss by the Rockets with bad calls or non-calls being a factor.
