The second round playoff series between the Golden State Warriors and Houston Rockets looks like it is going to be as good as advertised, and frustrations boiled over for Chris Paul in Game 1 to the point where he was ejected.
With the Rockets trailing 103-100 and looking to tie the game in the final seconds, James Harden missed a three-point attempt and drew some contact from Draymond Green. No foul was called, and players and coaches on the Houston side were livid. Paul got the rebound and felt he was then fouled by Stephen Curry, but the officials ruled that it was Golden State ball after going out of bounds.
Here’s a video of the entire sequence, which ended with Paul picking up his second technical of the half and getting tossed.
Chris Paul steals it, James Harden misses a three, loose ball PJ Tucker steps outta bound and Chris Paul is TOSSED #rockets #DubNation #warriors pic.twitter.com/Fk356W21tz
— Sports Gifs & Videos (@Supreme_Gifs) April 28, 2019
Paul picked up his first technical foul at the end of the third quarter, when he believed he was also fouled while shooting a three.
You could make the case that Harden was fouled by Green, but the refs allowed contact on similar shots throughout the game. Here’s another example where it looked like Harden may have been fouled by Klay Thompson:
Refs letting Klay go Zaza on James Harden pic.twitter.com/R46dSvVXHV
— gifdsports (@gifdsports) April 28, 2019
The Rockets obviously believed the Warriors benefitted more from non-calls, but they need to do a better job of keeping their emotions in check going forward. Considering Paul managed to get T’ed up from the bench earlier this season, we shouldn’t be all that surprised he got ejected.
