He first raised his hands, feigning incomprehension, then lowered his head realizing his gesture. James Harden was penalized with a Type I flagrant foul for wearing his elbow at Chris Paul’s face. A logical arbitration decision for the bearded man who, a few minutes earlier, got bumped by Jae Crowder. The Suns player had suffered a technical foul.
After the Nets’ loss on the Suns’ floor, there was talk of officiating throughout the game. Not very happy with the officials since the start of the season in attack, James Harden this time complained about the decisions made on the other side of the field.
After praising the performance of the Suns, the bearded man spoke of the poor start to his team’s 4th quarter. ” A couple of things didn’t work out for us. We had foul problems, we ended up in the bonus after a minute of play in the fourth quarter for some reason “, he regretted.
The start of the last quarter was indeed marked by an unusual sequence of four whistled fouls against the Nets in… fifteen seconds of actual play.
In addition to James Johnson on a position in the racket against JaVale McGee, DeAndre ‘Bembry was sanctioned twice in a row for his antennae on Devin Booker and a challenge to the position of the latter. Patty Mills finally fouled JaVale McGee who had just recovered an offensive rebound.
From there, the Nets, sanctioned 27 times overall (compared to 19 for the Suns who got ten more shots) could no longer foul without bringing their opponents over the line. ” At this point, you can’t hit anyone, you can’t even be physical on defense or they’re going to shoot two free throws. In these cases, we just have to be smarter and think the game better. “, deduced James Harden.
“I couldn’t move my hand”
Arbitration was not the only element of frustration for him in this game. Absent from the two previous matches, the former Rockets MVP certainly signed his 29th double-double of the season (22 points and 10 assists) but he lacked skill (6/19 on shots) and lost four balls.
In his defense, the person concerned still admitted to suffering from the right hand, his weak hand. ” I couldn’t move my hand, that’s why I didn’t play the last game. Not move it at all “, Described the player who nevertheless imagines playing the next night in Sacramento.
He said he was ” probably injured in the hand about two weeks ago, falling badly after a circle attack. ” So it was already hurting me but I was playing with it. I lifted weights the night before the game (against the Warriors this weekend), before leaving on a trip. I probably irritated her. The next morning I woke up and really couldn’t move my hand at all.“
Despite this physical glitch and his frustrations, Steve Nash found that his player had done the job. ” Without Kevin (Durant) or Joe (Harris) to get attention, it’s a lot for him. But he looked good, he did a lot of good things and he was close to having a great game, so I’m proud of his effort.“
