Monday in San Francisco, Houston Rockets coach Mike D'Antoni and stars Chris Paul and James Harden spoke in front of cameras about officiating, rebounding and adjustments. There was not a single question or mention of the cloud that's hanging over their team as the Rockets face a 1-0 series deficit in the Western Conference semifinals. Across the Bay Bridge in Oakland, Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr and Stephen Curry spent more than 20 minutes talking about officiating, Kerr opening his media conference with a vaudevillian fake flop, mocking the Rockets. Kevin Durant's name was mentioned one time -- by Kerr, referencing his technical fouls. All this handwringing, posturing and video analysis of the officiating is one giant misdirection. The Western Conference and perhaps the NBA title aren't hinging on the whistle, they're hinging on the superstars. Durant is red hot and absolutely dominating. Harden is in another ill-timed postseason slump. All the last-two-minute reports in the world don't mean anything compared to that reality. If it doesn't change, the Warriors will be moving on and the Rockets can start their summer. Over the Warriors' past five games, ever since Durant ripped off the mildly pompous but deadly serious quip "I'm Kevin Durant," he has been a killer. Here are the numbers: 55 percent shooting, 40 percent on 3-pointers, 91 percent from the line and 40.2 points per game. In Sunday's Game 1, he had 24 points in the second half to carry the Warriors home. "I think I'm starting to put everything together out there," Durant said Sunday. Whether it's the trick defense he saw against the Utah Jazz, some sort of issue with his left wrist that he has dismissed, or that he has been more focused on drawing fouls on 3-pointers than actually making them, Harden has been unable to keep up his torrid pace from the regular season. Over the Rockets' past four games, here's what it looks like: 32 percent shooting and 28 percent on 3-pointers and 28.3 points per game. That's 8 points per game less than his regular-season average, and he has gotten there only because he's still averaging 11 free throws a game and hitting 88 percent of those. In this four-game stretch, the Rockets' juggernaut offense is averaging only 98.8 points a game and shooting 40 percent. Their offensive rating, the Holy Grail for the analytically obsessed Rockets, during that span is 100.8 points per 100 possessions. That's about 12 points less than their season average and a number that would've put them dead last among all teams during the season. The Rockets have been wheezing because Harden, at the most important time of the season, hasn't been playing like the MVP the Rockets assert that he is. His midrange game has lost some touch and his 3-point shooting has collapsed, perhaps thrown off by the Jazz's efforts to trap him and take him out of his comfort zone. Kevin Durant scored 24 points in the second half of Game 1 vs. the Rockets on Sunday. AP Photo/Ben Margot Last season, during the conference finals loss to the Warriors, Harden lost his shooting touch and his efficiency. He shot a miserable 24 percent on 3-pointers in that series. The 27 consecutive team misses in Game 7 -- Harden was 2-of-13 on 3-pointers that night -- is what many remember, but he had another game where he was 0-of-11 on 3s. When it truly mattered, he just wasn't able to deliver. Meanwhile, Durant led the Warriors in minutes and scoring in the conference finals. In the closeout game, he had 34 points. Durant has a wonderful safety net -- for example, he struggled shooting when the Warriors faced elimination in Game 6 last year, but Klay Thompson put in 35 to erase the issue -- that Harden doesn't enjoy. But he also doesn't seem to get the proper spotlight at times. Durant hasn't finished in the top five of the MVP voting since he came to the Warriors. Last season, when Harden won, DeMar DeRozan was on nearly as many ballots as Durant was. He probably won't finish in the top five this season, either, when Harden is a serious contender to win again. It's one of the taxes Durant has paid for being on a superteam: Recognition for his individual greatness has been somewhat diminished. He has walked away with the past two Finals MVPs, but for whatever reason that hasn't earned him the respect it should. Perhaps because those Finals were so lopsided, it has been unfairly undervalued. The Hoop Collective Podcast Brian Windhorst and guests discuss Golden State's Game 1 win over Houston and the player/referee relationship. Listen now! During the 2017 Finals, Durant's performance made the case that he'd taken the mantle from LeBron James as the best player in the league. Paul Pierce, under some scrutiny because of his long-standing personal rivalry with James, said as much during television coverage of that series. Pierce declared it the dawn of the Durant era, and that was even before Durant's Game 3 dagger over James cemented him as the eventual winner of the Bill Russell Trophy. Two years on, the Warriors are two rings richer and Durant is right on pace to back up Pierce's proclamation as he searches for his third. Regardless of regular-season recognition, Durant is built for the postseason because his phenomenal size plus his range make him invaluable in half-court possession games. It has showed the past two years and, after a hiccup game during which the LA Clippers' Patrick Beverley succeeded in getting under his skin in the previous round, it's happening again. "Kevin can get his own shot at any time he wants," Kerr said. "That's what makes him so impossible to guard. He understands what we need from him and he's been delivering game after game." In 2016, when Harden lost to the Warriors in the playoffs (he shot just 31 percent from 3-point territory in that series), he wasn't ready and didn't have the team to compete.<doc-sep>OAKLAND — The most popular topic of these NBA playoffs hasn’t been Kevin Durant’s scoring tirade, nor has it been Dame Time or Kawhi Leonard’s mission to finally lift Toronto to the NBA Finals or anything else other than… where James Harden lands after he shoots a 3-pointer. The topic of “landing space” has dominated the last several days as Harden pleas for a fair chance from officials and the Rockets thrust their disgust with referees into the spotlight. Harden, Chris Paul and Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni all said after their Game 1 loss that officials missed calls after plays where they thought Warriors defenders didn’t leave Rockets jump-shooters space to land. The Warriors have argued that Harden in particular initiates the contact on his 3-pointers, that they indeed leave him space to land. The NBA ruled as much on Harden’s game-tying attempt with 10 seconds left in Game 1. Durant, who played with Harden in Oklahoma City from 2009-12, said he’s always been crafty when it comes to drawing fouls. Not only on 3-pointers, but also when he’s inside the arc. “He’s always been clever at getting to the paint and using his strength to bump guys off,” Durant said. “I think it’s, more so than anything, putting pressure on the defense. I think that’s what he’s always been doing … I wouldn’t say that he has an advantage. I think everybody, once they get into the lane, they use little tricks to try to get their shots off. I don’t think he’s any different. He may bump guys off going to the rim, but everybody does that.” But contorting his body to gain an unfair advantage and exploit the potential for human error from officials? “I wouldn’t say that he’s found a way to … cheat the rules,” Durant said. “I wouldn’t say that. “I just think that he has a style of play, and it might not be what everybody might like to see, but it’s been effective and I don’t think he’s been cheating the game at all … I think he plays inside the game, plays within the rules of the game. Referees aren’t gonna be perfect all game, just like players aren’t.” Harden tied Durant for a game-high 35 points in the Warriors’ 104-100 Game 1 win on Sunday, but he shot 9-of-28 from the field and 4-of-16 from 3 while making 13-of-14 attempts from the foul line. Numerous times throughout the game, Harden, and even Paul, looked to draw a foul on a 3-point attempt only to hear no whistle. As the Rockets lobby for more calls heading into Game 2, Durant insists the public outcry won’t change how they defend the 3. Besides, the topic of landing space isn’t anything new, Durant says. He recalled an exact play from March 13, 2013, when Kobe Bryant suffered a severe ankle sprain landing on the foot of Hawks guard Dahntay Jones after attempting a baseline jumper with 3.9 seconds left in the game. Then of course came Zaza Pachulia’s close-out on Kawhi Leonard in the 2017 West Finals with the Warriors playing the Spurs. Maybe now the topic is only re-surfacing because the Rockets are doing everything they possibly can to raise the discussion again, in hopes they become the benefactor of a few calls in their pursuit of an upset. “I don’t think it’s the way you prepare, you just try to get a good contest,” Durant said. “We practice contests and close-outs. We’ve been practicing that stuff since we were in elementary, you know what I’m saying? So it’s a certain way that we tend to contest shots, close out on shooters, so it’s not just James. It’s all their guys we gotta have proper technique on and make sure we’re out there on the catch and make ’em see a hand … Just having proper technique I think is the most important thing.”<doc-sep>The only knock you can make on Kevin Durant’s 50-point performance against the Los Angeles Clippers is that Golden State needed to play a Game 6 in order for it to happen. The Warriors lost as many home games in this first-round series (two) as they did during their previous two postseason runs combined, and the extra work of Friday’s 129-110 victory took its toll. While Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson both suffered—and played through—ankle injuries, Durant took control of the offense and tested the endurance of the Staples Center’s scorekeeper. Advertisement Durant scored 38 before halftime, which tied an NBA playoff record for most points in a single half. He was as efficient as he was prolific, and it only took him 26 shots to reach his final tally of 50 points. It was the kind of performance where the numbers themselves make for jaw-dropping highlights, but the actual highlights are worth watching, too. Advertisement Advertisement 50 pts | 15-26 FG Kevin Durant sends the Clippers home with an epic closeout performance 🔥 pic.twitter.com/YDjXXAXT06 — ESPN (@espn) April 27, 2019 Advertisement Seven-footers aren’t supposed to be that nimble, and Durant scored with the ease of a retirement home orderly retrieving a blanket from a moderately high shelf. It looked so effortless that I was relieved to see him out of breath during the halftime interview, if only for the sake of his opponents’ pride. “We tried everything,” Clippers guard Lou Williams said after the game. “Sometimes, you come across special people and it doesn’t matter what you send to them.” Can’t hate on this answer. Good series 😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/shHHDKzy1Q — Warriors on NBCS (@NBCSWarriors) April 27, 2019 Advertisement Advertisement “That was one of the great performances I’ve ever seen in my life, and I’ve seen some good ones,” Warriors head coach Steve Kerr said after the game. Kerr called Durant “the best player in the world,” and the forward won’t have to wait long to justify that praise. Golden State’s next series, against the Houston Rockets, starts on Sunday. No team has come closer than the Rockets to toppling the Warriors during the Durant era. They pushed Golden State to a Game 7 in last year’s Western Conference Finals before succumbing to one of the coldest (and oddest) shooting performances in postseason history (7-for-44 from beyond the arc). If you believe luck manifests itself in broad, pendular swings, then Curry and Thompson’s ankle injuries probably look pretty significant. Both players are expected to play in Game 1, but they were clearly hobbled against the Clippers on Friday so expect Durant to be tasked with much of the heavy lifting. For at least the immediate future, Golden State will be his team. Despite winning two consecutive Finals MVP trophies, Durant has been something of an adjunct superstar during his tenure with the Warriors. He’s been the plus-one to their party, and this has helped fuel rumors of his imminent departure during free agency this summer. Some league insiders are treating this as a foregone conclusion, meaning all that’s left to determine is whether or not Durant leaves as a champion. That, like everything else related to the Warriors at the moment, is completely up to him.<doc-sep>Rockets: Houston committed nine first-quarter turnovers leading to 14 Warriors points while shooting 7 for 19. ... Reserve G Austin Rivers returned after he missed Game 1 with an illness. ... Houston is 5-14 vs. the Warriors dating to the 2015 Western Conference finals won by the Warriors on the way to their first title in 40 years. ... After going 14 of 47 from deep in the series opener, missing their initial eight threes and 27 straight to end Game 7 vs. Golden State last year, Houston shot 17 for 40 on 3s in Game 2.<doc-sep>
The Houston Rockets have been the talk of the NBA after word came out that the team had been doing data analysis on specific foul calls in relation to the Golden State Warriors. Whole thing smelled like sour grapes, particularly after Houston had lost Game 1 of their second-round series to the Warriors on Sunday. Given that Houston has both Chris Paul and James Harden, their complaints about referee officiating has seemed a touch disingenuous. Of course, now folks are starting to ask other players around league about Rockets. According to Golden State’s Kevin Durant, he doesn’t feel as though Harden is cheating the rules of the game. Via ESPN: “I wouldn’t say that he has an advantage,” Durant said after the morning shootaround before Game 2 on Tuesday night. “I think everybody, once they get into the lane, they use little tricks to try to get their shots off. I don’t think he’s any different. “He may bump guys off going to the rim, but everybody does that. I wouldn’t say that he’s found a way to … cheat the rules. I wouldn’t say that. I just think that he has his style of play. It might not be what everybody likes to see, but it’s been effective. And I don’t think he’s been cheating the game at all.” Durant was teammates with Harden in Oklahoma City, and the Warriors forward no doubt has a couple of tricks up his sleeve that he’d like to continue to go unnoticed by officials. No need to draw ire here. And the problem is not that Harden is cheating the rules. In fact, in large part Harden, Paul, and several other superstars are explicitly not cheating the rules, but their results have fans groaning about the flow and spirit of the game. They’re taking advantage of specific sight lines and issues that referees have as they try to officiate a game that has grown stronger, faster, and smarter. It’s been put forth that all the tricks that Harden and players of his ilk have learned over time have made them believe that they should get certain calls in situations due to the patterns referees have allowed them. That doesn’t mean that some of those calls are, altruistically, fouls. Story continues In short, Harden seems to get upset every offseason because he can no longer manufacture foul calls on the same moves he did in the regular season. Whether that’s fair or not is up for interpretation. The referees have been a constant source of conversation over the course of these playoffs with just how poorly they’ve performed, especially with an audience at home that can watch instant replays and see the right call nearly in real time. The NBA will need to address the situation with the referees during the off-season. For now, the league does not agree with Houston’s methodology and how they believe they’ve been unfairly disadvantaged by the boys in gray.