In the last NBA Cup quarterfinal, Houston hosted and defeated Golden State in an objectively ugly, subjectively very entertaining 91-90 grindhouse victory that featured incredible defense on both sides, another late-game collapse by the Warriors, and a total Full throttle attack by Steve Kerr marked loss. The game was a pretty illustrative example of a number of larger trends in the league this year, both on a gameplay level and a broadcast level, particularly at the end.

What happened is that the Warriors screwed up. They mounted a typical attack in the third quarter, the only period in which either team scored more than 25 points, and they held a slight lead in the fourth quarter. The dynamic when the Warriors had the ball was Golden State desperately running around, trying to use Steph Curry’s gravity to get something open somewhere else in the airtight Houston defense before the Rockets committed a shot clock violation forced, which they did an incredible eight times that night (they also forced an eight-second violation). Golden State hit the rim just once in the final three minutes. In contrast, Houston’s offense focused on giving Alperen Sengun the ball and letting him operate in the post. It was honest, physically punishing stuff, old-fashioned principles applied against and alongside hyper-modern basketball. Both teams are winning this year with defense and depth, which to me are the two big league stories of this season.

In any case, Golden State should have won, as the Warriros built a seven-point lead on a three-pointer from Jonathan Kuminga with 3:34 left. From that point on, they went 0-5 with three turnovers (two of them shot clock violations) as the Rockets pushed hard. Their next-to-last miss came with 11 seconds left and a one-point lead, when Curry shook Dillon Brooks and drained a three-pointer behind. The rebound bounced back and forth between Sengun, Kevon Looney, Fred VanVleet and Gary Payton II, who swatted it away instead of taking a jump ball. Jalen Green passed Kuminga for the loose ball and referee Bill Kennedy whistled Kuminga for jumping on Green’s back. This caused Kerr to panic.

Green hit both free throws and the Rockets played another perfect defensive ball to secure the victory and secure their ticket to Las Vegas. It was an ugly win, the last few minutes were extremely choppy and contentious, and Houston came out cleaner amid endless criticism, challenges and airing of grievances.

A distraught Kerr beamed at the referees after the game. “I’m angry,” he said. “I wanted to go to Las Vegas. We wanted to win this Cup, and we’re not going to go because of a foul with a loose ball, 80 feet from the basket and the game on the line. I’ve never seen anything like that in my life, and that was ridiculous. Kerr and Curry both pointed out that the officials were deliberately letting both teams play, missing a fairly obvious foul by Aaron Holiday on Curry in the fourth quarter and showing fairly consistent play only to give Houston a last-second win. because a loose game took place. Ball foul. Kerr described the Kuminga foul as one “that an elementary school referee wouldn’t have made,” which is very funny, and claimed that the Warriors “deserved to win that game.”

The Warriors are a strange, frustrating team, prone to mind-bogglingly long stretches of stupid shit. They play consistent, cohesive defense, but commit too many pointless turnovers and commit fouls too often. It frustrates me to lose in such circumstances, but you should also hit the rim more than once in the final three minutes of a game against a conference rival if you want your case of injustice to be taken more seriously.

This was the first time Houston beat Golden State since February 2020, and with both of their last meetings going well, I would like to see a playoff matchup between these two. While this Rockets team is completely different from the James Harden-era one, they have imported a number of players with different strengths against the Warriors (Brooks, VanVleet, Steven Adams and head coach Ime Udoka), and they can contribute as well these brutal, murderous physical wars. Every game in the series would end 87-85 and the losing coach would reliably earn a five-figure fine, and I would watch every minute of it.