OAKLAND — The main topic of conversation following the Warriors’ 104-100 Game 1 win over the Rockets Sunday isn’t Golden State’s gutsy effort on short rest.
It isn’t Kevin Durant’s dominant offensive run — he scored 35 points Sunday and is averaging 40 per game over his last five — either.
No, the conversation is all about the referees.
Then again, we shouldn’t expect anything else following a game featuring this Houston team.
That’s because these Rockets aren’t interested in playing Golden State straight-up — they know they’ll lose that way. So instead they’ve devised a clever way to make the game more balanced: they deliberately bring the referees into the fray.