Denver's game seven win over Utah ended with a wild sequence of events, but Houston and Oklahoma City topped that drama, with James Harden improbably making the key defensive play as the Rockets prevailed, 104-102. The Rockets led 103-102 when Chris Paul--who claims he lives for such moments--gave up the ball as the clock ran down, ultimately leaving the Thunder's fate in Luguentz Dort's hands. Harden blocked Dort's three point attempt with 4.8 seconds remaining. Dort retrieved the miss, but he had jumped from out of bounds and thus Houston retained possession. The Thunder used their foul to give and then fouled Robert Covington on the inbounds play with 1.4 seconds remaining. Covington split a pair of free throws. Then, Harden foolishly committed a dead ball foul, enabling the Thunder to potentially score a point with no time running off of the clock. The Thunder selected Danilo Gallinari to shoot the free throw, but Gallinari missed, squandering an opportunity to give the Thunder a chance to hit a two point shot to win. Now, the Thunder needed two points to tie or three points to win. Gallinari's missed free throw enabled the Rockets to overplay the three point line without having to fear losing on a two point shot, and P.J. Tucker stole Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's pass to end the game.
Harden deserves credit for blocking Dort's shot (and avoiding a foul in a league where officials now love to call fouls on three point attempts), but that does not change the fact that for 47 minutes and 56 seconds Luguentz Dort outplayed James Harden in game seven.
Let that sentence marinate for a moment. James Harden--the 2018 regular season MVP and a player who Daryl Morey ranks ahead of Michael Jordan as a scorer--was outplayed by Luguentz Dort. No disrespect to the hardworking Dort, but no MVP in his prime who is often compared to Michael Jordan should be outplayed by a role player at any time, let alone in a game seven. Dort scored a game-high 30 points on 10-21 field goal shooting--including 6-12 from three point range--and his defense played a major role in Harden's awful performance. Harden finished with 17 points on 4-15 field goal shooting, including 1-9 from three point range. Harden's floor game was solid--nine assists, three rebounds, three blocked shots, two steals, and four turnovers--but in the second half of a close game, Harden scored seven points on 2-7 field goal shooting; the player who supposedly can score at any time against any defense scored four points in the fourth quarter. I have said it for years, and I will say it again: Harden is an All-Star caliber player, but his inflated regular season numbers are the product of a gimmicky style that has not consistently worked--and will not consistently work--in the playoffs. The only way Harden ever belongs in the same sentence with Michael Jordan is if that sentence reads, "James Harden does not belong in the same sentence with Michael Jordan as a player, scorer, or leader."
Harden struggling in the playoffs and then coming up small in elimination games is not a new story. It is a pattern. During last year's playoffs, Harden and the Rockets produced what Charles Barkley termed "one of the worst choke jobs I've ever seen." Harden's bricklaying turnover fests in elimination games are an annual tradition.
Paul is the other guard in this series who receives endless love from the media. Paul had a triple double in game seven--19 points, 12 assists, 11 rebounds--but he committed six turnovers, shot 5-11 from the field and did not take command in the final minutes with the game up for grabs. He had the ball in his hands with Houston up two, but instead of creating a good shot for himself or a teammate he just gave up the ball without making a move that threatened the defense--and that is the sequence that culminated in Harden blocking Dort's shot.
During this series, Paul played well in the games his teams won--particularly in game six--but are we just supposed to forget how awful he was in game two (-36 plus/minus rating) and game five (-28 plus/minus rating)? Talking about how you are built for such moments after a game six win that does not end the series sounds really dumb when you disappear down the stretch of a game seven loss. Kawhi Leonard is built for this. That is why his trophy case includes championships and Finals MVPs. Kevin Durant is built for this. LeBron James is built for this to some extent, though he has had some baffling playoff performances for a player with his immense talents. Coming up big in some games, but ultimately losing suggests that you are not, in fact, built for this, if "this" is defined by consistent playoff success/deep playoff runs.
Paul is a future Hall of Famer who is quick and savvy, he is strong for his size, and he can be deadly from midrange--but size matters in the NBA and that is why there is only one player in the 6-0 height range who was a dominant performer for championship teams: Isiah Thomas. If we are going to praise Paul when he does well in the clutch, then we also have to note when he does not do well in the clutch, and we have to look at his body of work, including a long playoff resume that has just one Western Conference Finals appearance and no NBA Finals appearances. Not only did Paul have multiple subpar games during this series, he failed to organize his team down the stretch of a winnable game seven. The so-called "best leader in the NBA" (as Charles Barkley loves to say) who is praised for his basketball IQ ran an offense that generated six points in the final seven minutes of the fourth quarter.
Meanwhile, the guard who the media loves to denigrate quietly saved the series for the Rockets. Russell Westbrook, who recovered from COVID-19 before missing several games due to a quadriceps injury, made his first appearance in this series in game five. The Rockets were fizzling prior to Westbrook's return, losing two games in a row to turn a 2-0 series lead into a 2-2 tie. Westbrook looked rusty in game five, but he led the team in assists with seven, he grabbed six rebounds, he did not commit a turnover, and he provided an energy boost in a blowout Houston win that put the Rockets up 3-2. Anyone who follows sports and understands the challenges involved in coming back from an injury knows that the second game back can be more difficult than the first one, particularly when there is a quick turnaround. The media seemed to delight in spotlighting each of Westbrook's seven turnovers in game six while ignoring that Harden had five turnovers in that game. Still, there is no doubt that all of those turnovers--by Harden and by Westbrook--were very costly in a four point loss.
In game seven, Westbrook contributed 20 points on 9-20 field goal shooting. He also had nine rebounds, and he only committed two turnovers. His ability to exploit mismatches by driving and by posting up enabled Houston to score easy baskets that offset Harden's bricklaying; that extra dimension Westbrook provides is the difference between Houston winning this game seven, and losing elimination games in previous years when Harden choked and no one else on the team was willing or able to pick up the slack. Westbrook is clearly not 100% physically, and he did not shoot well in the fourth quarter but without his efficient production in the first three quarters the Rockets would not have been close enough for Harden's blocked shot to matter.
Eric Gordon also played a huge role, leading the Rockets with 21 points on 6-11 field goal shooting, including 5-9 from three point range.
This was a difficult series for me to handicap, and the only first round series that I got wrong. I could not decide who was more likely to choke between Harden and Paul, so the tiebreaker for me was that I assumed that Westbrook would miss so many games--and be so rusty if he returned--that the Thunder would prevail. Instead, Westbrook returned in game five and the Rockets went 2-1 when he played after going 2-2 in the games that Westbrook missed. Don't hold your breath waiting to hear anyone else mention that statistic, though; after all, Harden blocked a shot in the last five seconds, and that may be enough for the league to figure out a way to put Harden on the All-Defensive Team. Morey may soon declare that Harden is not only a better scorer than Jordan but also a better defensive player with five seconds left in a game seven; after all, Jordan never blocked a shot to seal a game seven win, and the numbers never lie, right?
That's the article: Rockets Survive Frenetic Final Seconds to Eliminate Thunder
You are now reading the article Rockets Survive Frenetic Final Seconds to Eliminate Thunder with link address https://wordentertainmen.blogspot.com/2020/09/rockets-survive-frenetic-final-seconds.html
Post a Comment