The Houston Rockets ended a 15-game losing streak against the Golden State Warriors. in an exciting and controversial way Wednesday night with a 91-90 victory in the quarterfinals of the NBA Cup. With this victory, the Rockets qualify for Las Vegas and will face the Oklahoma City Thunder in the semifinals.
After trailing by six with less than 90 seconds left, the Rockets closed on a 7-0 run and took the lead for good on a pair of Jalen Green free throws with 3.5 seconds left. Before Green’s free throws, there was a chaotic sequence that left the Warriors questioning officials.
According to the league’s last two minutes reporthowever, the referees got it right. Back to the madness.
After Alperen Sengun cut the deficit to one with a layup with 27.2 seconds left, the Rockets decided to play defense instead of fouling. The Warriors ran down the clock, but maybe not as far as you hoped. Steph Curry launched a step-back 3-pointer with nine seconds remaining on the shot clock that was wide right.
In the ensuing scramble for the loose ball, Gary Payton II dove on it, then Fred VanVleet dove on it. Payton then tried to roll the ball to Jonathan Kuminga, but Green read the situation and hit the deck himself. Kuminga and Green converged, and Kuminga was eventually called for a foul, which sent Green to the line for the game-winning free throws for Houston.
The Warriors were furious.
“I’ve never seen a loose ball foul in a jump ball situation 80 feet from the basket with the game on the line,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. “I’ve never seen it. I think I saw it in college 30 years ago. I’ve never seen it in the NBA. This is unacceptable. I don’t even understand what just happened. Loose ball, diving to the floor 80 feet from the basket and you’re going to give a guy two free throws to decide a game while people are scrambling to get the ball? Give them a timeout and let the players decide the game.”
Despite Kerr’s objections, the two-minute report stated that “Kuminga (GSW) reaches over Green (HOU) in an attempt to reach the ball and lowers his shoulder.”
And as for the fight between Payton and VanVleet, the NBA report called it accidental contact. In fact, the only call the league said officials missed in the final seconds was what should have been a five-second violation by Brandin Podziemski on the Warriors’ final possession.
The league’s conclusion will do nothing to convince Kerr, who fundamentally disagreed with the call.
“I’m pissed. I wanted to go to Las Vegas,” Kerr said. “We wanted to win this Cup. We’re not going there because of a lost ball 80 feet from the basket with the game on the line. I’ve never seen anything like that in my life. It was ridiculous.
“The game was a complete wrestling match. They didn’t call anything. You established that you’re not going to call anything throughout the game. It’s a physical game and you’re going to call a loose ball foul in a situation with guys diving on the ground with the game on the line? This is a billion dollar industry. You have people’s jobs on the line, I’m amazed.
