Steve Kerr should take accountability for loss to Rockets

The Houston Rockets beat the Golden State Warriors.

That's the headline here. After 15 consecutive losses to the club, the Rockets walked away victorious. This game had real stakes. With this win, the Rockets earned a trip to Vegas to play the Thunder in the NBA Cup Semifinals.

The contest had no shortage of controversy. The Rockets benefitted from a strange officiating decision down the stretch. Jalen Green and his former G-League Ignite teammate Jonathan Kuminga were on the floor wrestling for a loose ball. Generally, this situation would result in a jump ball, unless the Rockets had been awarded the timeout they sought. The refs determined that Kuminga fouled Green:

Steve Kerr was not happy about it.

Rockets rivals quick to blame officials

"That is unconscionable. I don't even understand what just happened"
-Steve Kerr

Kerr has a point. This is not how this situation is generally called. Any Warriors fan would be justified in feeling like this was the wrong call.

It couldn't have come at a more critical time. The Rockets were down one. The play sent Jalen Green to the free-throw line. He knocked both shots down, and the Warriors couldn't make up the difference with just a few seconds remaining.

Nobody wants the refs to decide a close game. It happens anyway.

The Warriors should know something about that, right?

Rockets rivals have had some luck

Frankly, Kerr can cry Rockets fans a river so wide that Kevin Durant wouldn't be able to step over it.

Sour grapes? Sure. Rockets fans are still frustrated about the infamous out-of-bounds call that never was. If you need a more recent example, it won't be hard to provide one.

How about the belly-to-back suplex that Green executed on Sengun in the fourth quarter of this one? The refs determined that it wasn't a flagrant foul. That felt like a questionable decision - at best.

The point? Officials are human. They make mistakes. The intention here isn't to blame Warriors fans for any reaction they might have, but it does feel free to criticize Kerr. He knows the Warriors have been on both sides of this coin. In the aggregate, they've done pretty well.

Besides: the Warriors lost this game on their own.

Rockets deserved NBA Cup win

The Rockets' defense was suffocating in this contest. They forced so many 24-second violations that it seemed like the Warriors had forgotten how to count past 23.

They had no answer for Alperen Sengun, either. He finished with 26 points, 11 rebounds, 5 assists, and shot 10/18 from the field. Had the Warriors been able to contain him, the refs wouldn't have been in a position to decide this game.

They were, and the Houston Rockets beat the Golden State Warriors.