Warriors Intentionally Fouled the Rockets to Prevent 3-Point Record


by Marcel Mutoni @ marcel_mutoni

The Houston Rockets did more than just etch their names into the NBA’s history books last night. They also infuriated their opponents — the visiting Golden State Warriors felt disrespected by the Rockets, who ran up the score in a 140-109 laugher on their way to matching the all-time record for most threes made in a single game (23).

The Rockets gloated and offered no apologies for the long-distance assault. The Warriors — who intentionally fouled in a feeble effort to avoid further humiliation — simmered.

Per NBA.com and the Mercury News:

In the final two minutes, the Warriors would not let the Rockets even attempt a 3 in order to break the record. Warriors coach Mark Jackson ordered his players to foul the Rockets intentionally on each possession. “We’re not going to lay down,” said Jackson, ignoring the fact that his team already had. “I’m an old-school basketball player and an old-school coach. If you can’t appreciate that, that’s on you. We’re not going to lay down. If you’re going to get the record, we’re going to stop it. There is a way to do it, that’s all. Understand it, appreciate it and I would expect nothing less if I was on the other side.”

Kevin McHale: “I really didn’t even know we had a chance to break the record until late in the game. We shoot a lot of 3s. That’s just what we do. If we were to get them in the flow, we were going to get them. Mark didn’t want it to happen and fouled and I didn’t have no problem with how they played. Mark’s got to coach his team. I have no problem with that. … We started off the game just on fire from the 3-point line and kinda stayed that way the whole night. That doesn’t happen very often.” On running up the score: “I don’t have any issues with anybody. We run offense. For the most part, I thought we took a couple that we made that were a little early. Kinda the ones we’ve been trying to stay away from lately. I told our guys, any 3 early in the clock has gotta be a ‘How do you feel? Are you flowing? Are you rolling?’ And then we had some guys that were flowing and that were rolling and they made them. A lot of the 3s came later on after we had a drive and kick. They packed the paint and (we) made the extra pass and that’s just kind of how we play.”

Golden State will have its shot at sweet revenge next Tuesday, as Houston pays them a visit.