"Oh my god. It's him again": Warriors fans fear the worst as James Williams assigned to ref game 3 against Rockets
The officiating crew for Saturday's Game 3 showdown between the Golden State Warriors and the Houston Rockets has been announced. In a decision that Golden State fans seem to dread, James Williams has been named as the crew chief for that game.
Per an X (formerly Twitter) account - @ctrainstation - the Warriors went 0-5 in games where Williams was officiating.
Golden State fans are up in arms regarding this decision, with a few suggesting that the league is conspiring against their team.
"Oh my godddd, It's him again," one person tweeted.
"NBA just hates warriors. Period," one person claimed.
"Worst-case scenario here. I'm surprised the NBA did this, to be honest," another tweeted.
Some fans shared their grim predictions for the Warriors, while one suggested a devious plot to prevent Williams from officiating.
"Gonna have to come back from down 2-1 again," one fan predicted.
"We bout to get fouls called every possession," another said.
"Anybody know him so they can put some laxatives in his drink so that he can't ref?" One person tweeted.
The Warriors vs. Rockets series is tied 1-1 entering Game 3. Golden State won Game 1 - 95-85 - thanks to 56 points from Steph Curry (31) and Jimmy Butler (25).
Jalen Green scored 38 points and Alperen Sengun contributed a double-double (17 points and 16 rebounds) in Game 2 to help Houston even the series.
Also read: Golden State Warriors roll the dice with major Jimmy Butler decision before Game 3 against Rockets
The Warriors have won more games than they've lost with James Williams as the official referee
Based on the data, Golden State Warriors fans might not have to dread anything with referee James Williams. Per Basketball Reference, Williams has been part of the officiating crew in 60 Golden State regular-season games. Of these 60 games, Golden State has won 39 contests — a 65 percent win rate.
This also extends to the postseason. Williams has been an official in seven Golden State playoff games. Out of these seven, Golden State has only lost one.
An account @WarriorsMuse - on X (formerly Twitter) - shared a list of the playoff games that this referee officiated, along with their results. The only loss recorded was Game 1 against the Boston Celtics in 2022.
James Williams has been an official since the 2009-10 season. Since then, he's officiated in 886 regular-season games. The first time he refereed in the postseason was in 2015 and he went on to officiate 66 playoff games.
Williams officiated 55 regular-season games for the Houston Rockets during his career. The Rockets are 33-22 in these contests. He's also only been an official in one Houston postseason game before Game 3 on Saturday, and it resulted in a Rockets win.