Warriors News: Harden & Howard Complain About Screens

Last season the Golden State Warriors and Houston Rockets met in the Western Conference Finals and it only took five games for the Dubs to take care of business and advance to the NBA Finals. Fast forward a year, the Warriors and Rockets are once again facing each other in the playoffs, but this time around they are playing in the first round of the postseason.

The Rockets didn’t carry over the success from last season and even fired Kevin McHale early on in the season. They struggled throughout the course of the season and managed to sneak into the playoffs with a 41-41 record.

Houston does not present much of a threat to the defending champions, which has been the case for the last couple of years. The Rockets are just hoping they can win a single game and have grown frustrated after the Warriors continue to deliver losses. Some have complained about the Warriors setting illegal screens and the Rockets have joined the party. According Mark Berman of Fox 26, James Harden was not shy about sharing his opinion:

James Harden asked how difficult is it to get around Golden State’s screens: “If it’s illegal then it’s tough for anybody.” #Rockets

— Mark Berman (@MarkBermanFox26) April 20, 2016

Dwight Howard also chimed in and according to Calvin Watkins of ESPN, the Houston big man believes the Warriors are not as physical as advertised:

Dwight Howard said the Warriors are no more physical than what the perception “they just get away with it” and he couldn’t do it like them.

— Calvin Watkins (@calvinwatkins) April 20, 2016

The Rockets sound like a team that is about to get swept. It is also quite ironic that Harden is complaining about the officiating. Nobody in the NBA gets more calls than Harden. He has led the league in free throw attempts the last two seasons. If Howard is not impressed by the Warriors’ physicality, then it might be a good idea for him to be more successful in the paint, but that hasn’t happened in the first two games.

You can’t blame the Rockets for feeling this way. If your team was outplayed for two games and one of them without Steph Curry, you would probably be frustrated too.  The refs might be more aware of illegal screens for the rest of this series, but that won’t change the outcome.