NBA: Referees missed foul call on Thunder’s Schroder
The Rockets were not the only ones that erred on Saturday’s last-minute turnover that dramatically changed Game 3, a key to Oklahoma City’s late comeback and overtime win.
The NBA ruled that the inbounds pass that center P.J. Tucker threw away should have been ruled a foul on Thunder guard Dennis Schroder for pulling Rockets guard Eric Gordon to the court.
The Rockets led by two with 24.4 seconds remaining at the time. Had the play been ruled correctly, Gordon would have had one free throw, and the Rockets would have retained possession of the ball. Instead, the Thunder took possession with Chris Paul setting up Shai Gilgeous-Alexander for the go-ahead 3-pointer.
The NBA ruled in the daily Last Two-Minute report “Schroder (OKC) wraps his right arm across the front of Gordon’s (HOU) body, which dislodges him during the inbound.”
Gordon was not surprised to hear of the NBA ruling a day later.
“I mean, you know I hate to even talk about that because as strong as I am, ain’t nobody going to just throw me to the ground,” Gordon said on Sunday while shaking his head. “Things happen. We got to move on. We shouldn’t put ourselves in that situation.”
The NBA ruled that 25 of the 27 calls or no calls in the final two minutes of regulation were correct. On the other missed call, Thunder guard Chris Paul got away with a travel, but the Thunder did not score on that possession.
Westbrook ruled out for Game 4
Rockets guard Russell Westbrook on Sunday again stepped up his workouts in his rehab from a strained right quadriceps muscle, but that was the only change in his efforts to play in the first-round series against the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Westbrook was ruled out for Monday’s Game 4 with the Rockets still unable to estimate a timetable for when he will play.
“I don’t have a better idea (about when Westbrook will be cleared to play,)” Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni said. “He’s doing great and working hard. It feels like it’s getting closer, whatever that means. We really don’t know. He’s living in the training room and he’s doing his exercises. He’s putting a lot of movement into it now to where he can get to 100 percent.”
Westbrook did some on-court work on Sunday, including quick stops and starts before moving on to shooting drills.
James Harden had some discomfort in his right shoulder on Saturday but was not listed on the Rockets injury report.
“I asked him about it. He kind of shrugged a little bit,” D’Antoni said. “It doesn’t really matter. He’s still going to play a lot of minutes. He’s going to play through it. Without a doubt, he’ll be his normal greatness. But he played through a lot. That’s why his durability and P.J. (Tucker’s) durability is greatly appreciated.
“That’s what it’s going to take in these playoffs. You’re going to have tough moments. There’s going to be people hurt, tired. You have to fight through it. The team that can fight through it the best is going to be the team that wins.”
Bryant always on Harden’s mind
While many in the NBA and beyond thought about Kobe Bryant on his birthday Sunday, Rockets star James Harden said he thinks of his NBA role model “all the time” almost seven months after his death.
“Just his presence alone, he made you feel him,” Harden said last week. “Obviously, when he spoke, just his impact obviously on the court, he impacted so many people with the game of basketball. His competitive nature, his spirit, everything was unbelievable.
“So, I think of him a lot, man. Obviously, we all miss him. He was like a model to me. I looked up to him as a role model when I was younger, growing up in L.A. Then, as he got older, on his way out in the league, he became a real mentor outside of basketball, in the business world. That’s kind of where our relationship really grew.”