James Harden does not think he was officiated fairly in Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinals between the Houston Rockets and Golden State Warriors on Sunday.
There were three plays in the first half where a defender seemed to land in Harden’s landing space in the first half. None were called fouls. Then there were two high-profile incidents where fouls were not called, both of which Chris Paul received a technical foul for because he complained.
Harden was not happy about these close-outs by Klay + CP3 and Mike D'Antoni get techs after a no-call. pic.twitter.com/p1hKXw1DsC
— House of Highlights (@HoHighlights) April 28, 2019
The lack of calls influenced the game and helped the Warriors win 104-100. Afterwards, Harden said he wanted a “fair chance” from the officials.
James Harden: “I just want a fair chance, man. Just call the game the way it’s supposed to be called and we’ll live with the results.”
— Tim MacMahon (@espn_macmahon) April 28, 2019
Many around the league, including Mavericks owner Mark Cuban and Rockets GM Daryl Morey, are wondering whether the league will say calls were missed.
Been working on things since 2006 ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ https://t.co/DchJM8vl2l
— Daryl Morey (@dmorey) April 28, 2019
The officials apparently told Rockets head coach Mike D’Antoni that they missed calls in the game.
Mike D’Antoni says refs admitted at halftime they missed fouls on Warriors closing out on James Harden. “They missed four of them. That’s 12 foul shots.”
— Tim MacMahon (@espn_macmahon) April 28, 2019
How the officials call the rest of the games of the series will help dictate the outcome. If they continue to not give Houston calls, the Rockets are toast.
