OAKLAND, Calif. — Stephen Curry made a degree Monday of learning all 16 3-pointers James Harden tried in Sport 1 of the Western Convention semifinals.
He desires to be higher ready to defend the Houston Rockets star who has such a knack of drawing his man in to generate contact as he jumps ahead to launch the ball from lengthy vary.
Who knew a debate about touchdown house could be all of the speak going into Sport 2 on Tuesday?
Curry mentioned he was disillusioned that the officiating has taken over the narrative of the collection, and identified that Golden State might exhaust its vitality on the identical difficulty.
“So what are you going to do about it?” he mentioned. “Hopefully, Sport 2, it’s concerning the sport and the way we play and making photographs and the vitality and depth that we have to play with, understanding what’s at stake, and that turns into the dialog for positive.”
A day after the Rockets complained concerning the officiating following a 104-100 loss within the opener of the best-of-seven collection, the N.B.A. handed Houston’s Chris Paul a $35,000 nice for “aggressively confronting and recklessly making contact with a sport official,” whereas additionally confirming in its Final-Two Minute Report that no foul ought to have been referred to as on Draymond Inexperienced’s protection of a 3-point attempt by Harden with 10.1 seconds left that might have tied the sport.
The report did, nonetheless, state that three Golden State fouls had been missed — together with two towards Curry, every of which might have resulted in his fouling out.
On the 3-point try that Harden was adamant was a foul, the N.B.A. mentioned, “Inexperienced jumps in entrance of Harden and would have missed him if Harden hadn’t prolonged his legs.”
Curry, who the league says fouled each Harden and Eric Gordon within the final two minutes, mentioned the Warriors should perceive the “tendencies” of a shooter like Harden to keep away from placing themselves ready the place it’s a troublesome name for the referee on whether or not the Warriors have encroached on somebody’s touchdown house.
In addressing the problem, Harden referenced a play two years in the past throughout which Kawhi Leonard, then of the San Antonio Spurs, was misplaced for the season with a left ankle harm in Sport 1 of the Western Convention finals towards the Warriors. Leonard got here down on the foot of then-Golden State middle Zaza Pachulia.
“That may change the whole collection,” Harden mentioned after Sunday’s sport. “Simply name the sport the way in which it’s purported to be referred to as and we’ll dwell with the outcomes. It’s plain and easy.”
The Warriors are shocked the Rockets have made their grievances fairly so public, with Coach Steve Kerr saying it’s unlucky this turned the main target in a collection between the 2 powerhouses of the Western Convention.
“I believed we had been going to speak concerning the sport,” joked Kerr, who pretended to flop Monday on San Francisco Chronicle columnist Ann Killion to make his level.
“Watching the tape, each groups simply obtained after it and competed. However we simply watched the tape upstairs. You don’t assume there have been 10 calls that we thought we obtained fouled? That is the way it goes. And each coach within the league will inform you an identical factor: You watch the tape and also you go, ‘Man, that’s a foul, that’s a foul.’ It’s the character of the sport. It’s very, very troublesome to officiate an N.B.A. sport. There’s all types of grey space, and within the trendy sport plenty of gamers have gotten actually good at deception, creating contact. I don’t bear in mind individuals falling down on 3-point photographs on a regular basis once I performed.”
Houston Coach Mike D’Antoni mentioned the officers got here to speak to him throughout halftime about missed foul calls on the Warriors closing out on the Rockets’ 3-point shooters.
“I’m going to attempt to be a pleasant man as a result of I actually don’t need to give the charity to them, I’d somewhat have my charity have the cash,” D’Antoni mentioned. “So I imply the response was they got here in halftime and mentioned they missed them. That’s what they advised me. They missed 4 of them. That’s 12 foul photographs. So be it. They’re making an attempt to do the most effective they will do.”