How Golden State gets so wide open

The Golden State Warriors are an awesome team, a better team than the Rockets. In no way, shape or form am I saying that officiating is the difference between these two teams.

But if there’s one thing that must come out of this series, it’s that the spotlight needs to be placed squarely on how Golden State gets away with absolute murder on illegal screens. This was never more evident than in Game 1 when Andrew Bogut was getting away with football drills while the Rockets were being whistled for any screen at all. We saw it last year in the Western Conference Finals and it’s rearing its ugly head in this series as well.

We are posting just a few examples, but take a look at how Draymond Green and Bogut free Golden State’s elite shooters by setting illegal picks. In Green’s case, he literally drives, pushes, and in some cases, tackles the defender. Bogut tries to be more discreet but is no less obvious, holding the defender and sliding with their movement. He doesn’t set his feet and tries to make the movement look like it has been initiated by the defender, buying more time for the shooter.

There are four illegal screens set by Bogut last night in this video — three of them resulted in Stephen Curry three-pointers.

The question is: Why does the NBA consistently allow this and when will they start to pay attention to it?