© Troy Taormina | 2018 Dec 22
If you think the Rockets’ ire towards NBA officials is unique to Sunday’s Game 1, a report by ESPN on Monday revealed that Houston’s issues can be tracked back to feeling cheated in the Western Conference Finals last season.
The Rockets lost that series in seven games, in large part because they missed a record 27 consecutive 3-pointers in Game 7 on their home floor. But Houston believes it’s the league who is to blame for their inability to advance to the NBA Finals last season. According to Zach Lowe and Rachel Nichols of ESPN, the Rockets put together a memo tabulating the net result of 81 potential missed calls and non-calls in Game 7, that they determined cost Houston a total of 18.6 points in that game. The Rockets lost the game 101-92.
“Referees likely changed the eventual NBA champion,” says the memo via ESPN, addressed to Byron Spruell, the NBA’s president of league operations. “There can be no worse result for the NBA.”
The Rockets received what was essentially a full-game version for Game 7 of the last-two-minute report the NBA releases after close games. Houston then went through every missed or incorrect call, and determined how many points it cost their team. The league did not agree with their analysis.
“As we told the Rockets, we do not agree with their methodology,” Mike Bass, an NBA spokesman, told ESPN on Monday.
Interestingly, the Rockets never actually presented their memo to the league, but rather communicated their findings during a meeting. How detailed was the Rockets’ memo? Here’s an example of their analysis on just one play:
With about 5:05 remaining in the third quarter, Trevor Ariza attempted a runner from just outside the restricted area and made contact with Curry, who tried to draw a charge. No call was made. The league’s report flagged that as another inconclusive “potential infraction,” according to Houston’s analysis. Houston counted it as 1.7 lost points — again using Ariza’s free throw percentage.
The topic de jour from the Warriors’ Game 1 win over the Rockets has been the referees, and whether or not they missed a number of instances where Golden State defenders slid under Houston 3-point shooters. Monday’s two-minute report stated that there was no foul on James Harden’s potential game-tying 3-point shot, but did determine that the refs missed three late calls that would’ve benefited Houston.