Now if you’ve ever listened to the Sports Time Radio podcast or just kept up with the blogs here you know that the NBA is my least favorite of the four major sports. I would check in on games from time to time to get the score and watch a few minutes of whatever game as on, but after Game 1 of the Western Conference semi-finals between the Houston Rockets and the Golden State Warriors I may be done with the sport as a whole.
Golden State won Game 1 104-100 and after the game I think that the Rockets complained more than any other team in NBA history. Now I’ve played enough basketball to understand that ever time you miss a shot you think you where fouled, but the Rockets really took it to another level.
James Harden took the Rockets final shot of Game 1 and like he always does he brought his legs forward to make contact with the defender. It’s clear that the contact had no impact on if Harden’s shot was going to go in, but he hit the floor like he had been checked into the boards in an NHL game. Now Harden gets a lot of these calls as evidenced by the fact that he shot more free throws than any other player in the NBA this regular season, but he didn’t get this call and that set the Rockets off.
Now after the complaining from the Game loss had slowed down just a little bit the Rockets came out with some information on Game 7 of the Western Conference finals that they also lost to the Warriors.
Rockets General Manager Daryl Morey said that they had audited that Game 7 and the referees missed 81 calls that the Rockets should’ve gotten. At first I thought this was some kind of joke, but when I went back and looked at the article he actually said 81 missed calls. If the referees would’ve made all 81 of those calls; how long would that game of lasted?
Now of course Morey didn’t say how the game was audited, but obviously since he’s the Rockets General manager I could imagine the ticky-tac foul calls that he would’ve wanted the referees to make.
At first I thought all of this was a joke as I’m use to hearing players, coaches and just about everyone from the losing team complaining about the referee during the playoffs. This of course is done to work the referees a little bit and hopefully get some more calls in the next game, but it seems as though the Rockets where quite serious about their audit of that Game 7 and all their complaining from Game 1. This has led to the Rockets now becoming my least favorite professional sports organization in the entire sporting world and I hope they never win a championship.
All this led up to Game 2 which was played last night in Oracle Arena since the Warriors have home court advantage on this series and hosted games 1 and 2. There was drama right away for this game as Scott Foster was announced as one of the referees along with Ed Mallory and Eric Lewis.
Foster refereed a Rockets game back in February and James Harden complained so much about the way Foster called the game that he was given a fine by the league. Now Harden wasn’t the only Rockets player to complain about Foster officiating that game, but I believe he was the only one that was fined for his comments.
With Foster as one of the officials you’d had to wonder how this game would go. Would he end up inciting the Rockets with calls he made or would he unintentionally favor the Rockets so it wouldn’t look bad. In the end neither scenario really took place.
The Warriors ended up being called for 23 fouls in the game while the Rockets where called for 21 fouls. As things turned out there was much more interest in the injures to Harden and Stephen Curry than what foul calls the referees made.
As for the game the Warriors built a 14 point lead midway through the 3rd quarter and it appeared as Golden State might cruise to an easy Game 2 victory, but the Rockets came back and cut the Warriors lead to just 3 points with just under seven minutes left to play, but that was as close as they get. Golden State ran off 9 straight points to stretch their lead back out and in the end picked up their second win in the series 115-109.
Golden State won the first two games at home; so they have a 2-0 lead in the series. The teams get a bit of an extended break as the series shifts to Houston for Game 3, but that game won’t be played until Saturday night.
C.C. Sabathia made his 4th start of the season for the New York Yankees last night and while Sabathia ended up taking the loss 3-1 to the Arizona Diamondbacks he did join some pretty elite company.
Sabathia pitched 5 1/3rd innings giving up 2 runs on 5 hits while walking 2 and striking out 5 and it’s those 5 strikeouts that are important here.
Coming into this game Sabathia was just 3 strikeouts short of reaching 3000 career strikeouts. Sabathia struck out Arizona’s John Ryan Murphy to end the 2nd inning and record his 3000th strikeout last night. Sabathia is now the 17th player in Major League Baseball history to strikeout 3000 batters. He is also just the third left handed pitcher to reach that total following Steve Carlton and Randy Johnson.
Sabathia announced that 2019 would be his final season, but if he stays healthy and can make his starts he has a chance to move up the all-time strikeout list. Sabathia finds himself 82 strikeouts behind John Smoltz; so he has a good chance to catch him. Sabathia is also 114 strikeouts behind Curt Schilling and 115 strikeouts behind Bob Gibson; so he also has a chance to pass both of them as well.
One thins is clear; no matter where Sabathia ends up on the all-time strikeout list it appears as his next stop after the 2019 season will be Cooperstown when he’s inducted into the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame.
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