James Harden sorcery.
Outshooting their opponents.
Winning the nasty battle every night.
With Russell Westbrook out, the Houston Rockets were supposed to turn into the James Harden show. Houston won 111-98 over Oklahoma City. While Houston did hit 19 3-pointers, they shot only 33.9 percent behind the arc, even worse than Oklahoma City in Game 2. Houston, trailing a Chris Paul-led team, went on a furious run with James Harden on the bench led by a non-shooter. Houston trailed by three when Harden left the video game in the 3rd quarter.
Well, James Harden was held entirely in check in this game. His 5-of-16 shooting line does not do justice to his battles. 3 of those shots can be found in garbage time. While Houston did hit 19 3-pointers, they shot only 33.9 percent behind the arc, worse than Oklahoma City in Game 2. They were dead even in fouls and took one less free-throw..
And it didnt matter. The Rockets won. They won despite their two lead-ball handlers shooting 11-of-36 from the field and 2-of-21 on 3s. They 7 total Rockets reached double figures, and they held Oklahoma City to just 98 points behind their switching defense. Size stays a weak point, however defenses that deflect and remove as often as Houston does will always be bothersome for ball-handlers. The Thunder lean on three point player and even theyre having issues with Houston..
Harden isnt going to have a hard time every night. Russell Westbrook will be back soon. Theyll typically strike a greater percentage of their 3s. We understood all of that already. When those things werent working in their favor, what we didnt know was whether or not they might win. Today was proof. The Rockets can win even when the game isnt used their terms. They do not need to draw 40 free-throws or get 50 points from Harden. This is a championship-caliber team..
2. Were seeing a Defensive Player of the Year prospect blossom prior to our really eyes.
James Harden, former MVP, maybe the best one-on-one scorer in NBA history, shot 2-of-13 from the field for the very first 42 or two minutes of this video game. He padded his stats a bit in the final minutes, hitting his last 3 shots, however that came only after the Thunder eliminated novice Lu Dort to enhance their offense. Dort locked Harden down for the huge bulk of this video game, and he did it, basically, by himself..
This was Dorts first playoff game. Dort is going to be one of the really best protectors in basketball for years to come.
3. Jeff Green is a point player now?
Houston, tracking a Chris Paul-led group, went on a furious run with James Harden on the bench led by a non-shooter. Jeff Green isnt rather as cumbersome as Josh Smith, but he led Houstons run in a really various method.
Houston routed by 3 when Harden left the game in the third quarter. They led by 11 when he returned.
With Russell Westbrook out, the Houston Rockets were expected to turn into the James Harden show. Rather, they lead their first-round series 2-0 against the Oklahoma City Thunder since of everyone other than Harden. Houstons previous MVP shot 5 of 16 for a pedestrian (by his requirements) 21 points. It didnt matter. Houston won 111-98 over Oklahoma City. Seven Rockets hit double figures in what was an astonishingly balanced attack..
The novice, who missed Game 1, took the Harden project himself and definitely flummoxed the NBAs leading scorer. The Thunder need to go back to the drawing board offensively, but if they can continue to consist of Harden like this, theyll be able to make this a series.
Here are the 3 essential takeaways from tonights Rockets success..
1. The Rockets are negating whatever we believed we knew about them.
The assumption going into the postseason was that Houston wins were, broadly, going to rely on three things:.
