The Warriors' win over the Rockets in Game 1 was marred by controversy, with officials appearing to miss numerous fouls on James Harden. Harden missed out on what coach Mike D'Antoni estimated to be at least 12 free throws, and the situation was made more polarizing by the fact that their best player was the one involved.
To make matters worse, Chris Paul was fined $35,000 by the NBA for brushing (literally) with officials on Sunday, and Scott Foster -- a referee the Rockets have a history with -- will be reffing Game 2.
On Tuesday's "Off the Bench," Danny Kanell and Raja Bell talk about the controversial series so far and what to expect in Game 2. Bell says that the first order of business needs to be reigning both team in. He says he was surprised that Chris Paul wasn't suspended, and there needs to be a way that the NBA can mitigate the damage of a difficult Game 1, which the Last Two Minutes report didn't help.
"I think you have rules for a reason," Bell said regarding Paul's non-suspension. "And if you don't have those rules then you get a guy who's not a star, and you suspend me, what the heck... I'm a player too."
As for the game itself, Bell said: "When you allow a game to get reckless and out of hand by not establishing your whistle early in ways that it's supposed to be established... Once you let it get out of hand, the game's out of control, everybody's angry, and now something like [Paul] pops up."
Tuesday's game is a big one for Scott Foster and crew, so we'll see how it plays out. Game 1, however, made their job tougher.
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