The Rockets managed to pull out an absolute must-win Game 3 against the Warriors Thursday night, and Houston general manager Daryl Morey was happy to see his team overcome what he thought was dirty play from Golden State.
In the hours after the win, Morey sent a couple of sarcastic tweets about the Warriors’ physical play. He even tweeted a link to an article explaining the art of the arm bar submission and included a video of Andrew Bogut getting tangled up with Dwight Howard:
Golden State also almost got key arm bar submission here-would have ended match in 1st half https://t.co/LUegzP2uCN https://t.co/3LjsfYmnfj
— Daryl Morey (@dmorey) April 22, 2016
Howard was called for a technical foul on that play.
Morey was also upset over Draymond Green literally dragging Michael Beasley to the ground during the final seconds of the game:
Draymond with the takedown https://t.co/tBjXAa1FHi https://t.co/mocEJSf8Mz
— SI NBA (@si_nba) April 22, 2016
should have been Golden State win – takedown is worth 2 points https://t.co/28TTy1pKCG https://t.co/8wonKWgvFb
— Daryl Morey (@dmorey) April 22, 2016
Physical play is just part of the game in the postseason. Some stuff will get called, but foul calls that would be made during the regular season often get overlooked when the stakes are higher.
You can’t blame Morey for trying to work the officials given how much of an underdog his team is, but he should probably be more concerned about the way Houston’s bench reacted to James Harden’s game-winning shot. That didn’t look like a team that is confident in its chances against the defending champs.
H/T Deadspin
