A short time after they fell to the Golden State Warriors 100-104 in the opening game of the Western conference semifinals, the Houston Rockets fed a story to Sam Amick, who dutifully penned a breathless tribute to the “data-driven case” that the referees cost Houston the game. “In all,” the article spells out, “sources say, they were harmed to the tune of 93 points.”
Only one problem: their data is ok, but their analysis sucks; so this comes off a whole lot like institutionalized whining.
You see, it wasn’t Harden going 4-16 from behind the arc; nor the Rockets paltry 30% shooting from deep as a team that were to blame.