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Then, in the annals of the demoralizing defeats of the playoffs, where ranks this one?
* You somehow manage to persuade the best player on your team, Kia's most successful player, Kia, and the new scorer – with the league's highest average in 32 seasons – to prepare his 15 first shots, setting a playoff record for futility.
* That same player gets his fourth foul with 20:28 remaining in the match, while his only other teammate able to consistently create for himself and the others wins his fifth with 13:26 to go.
* Oh yes, you play at home, in front of one of the most rabid crowd in the league.
And yet, with benefits, you'd be happy to pay several months of game revenue to try to break a 2-0 deficit, you … lose?!?!?
That is the extent of the injuries that the Jazz will have to lick before Tuesday's fourth game, while it's dissecting how the Rockets could have escaped with a 104-101 win that, if it's going to be a good thing NBA history is a guide, ensures their progress. in the second round at 3-0.
Harden has always had a big impact finishing with 22 points, despite a disappointing 3-20 shots on the field. (Not only did he set the aforementioned record for the most consecutive failures at any point in a playoff game, but his 15.0 shot percentage is the third worst in his playoffs. career with at least 15 shots.)
Harden insisted after the match to say that he did not know that he was pulling as badly and his fourth-quarter output confirms it. Attacking the Jazz on every occasion, he scored 22 of 30 points in Houston over the period, scored 14 and helped another eight, while the Rockets held out pretty well on all odds.
His first bucket? A dunk with less than eight minutes remaining:
He followed with a pair of three points, including a back-breaker at 1:11 after jazz star Donovan Mitchell reduced Utah's deficit to one with a 3 of his own.
"It's James Harden," said Jazz coach Quin Snyder. "He's also good at the end, you give yourself a very small margin (if the match is tight)."
Combined with excellent defense, good ball security, strong support (led by Chris Paul's 18 points, five other two-digit Rockets) and a nightmare nightmare for Mitchell, that was just enough for the Rockets escape.
"Just keep firing," Harden said of his mentality. "My job is to go out and produce and be in attack mode, nothing changes (at age 0-15)."
Paul said, "By the end of the day, it's winning the game, no matter what he shot, we won the game."
Gut check in the city of Alamo
Just as championship races have become an early summer rite in San Antonio, so are early-season rides in Denver. When the Nuggets even participated in the playoffs, what they did this season for the first time since 2013.
This was the last of 10 consecutive playoff appearances for the Nuggets. All but one resulted in first – round outings, with two of them coming after spoiling the field advantage in the first two games.
So it came with a strong sense of déjà vu, if not inevitable, that the Nuggets quickly stumbled after a 101-96 defeat against the Spurs in the opening game of their first-round series. This put them in the unenviable position of having to win their first game of any kind in San Antonio since 2012 – a series of 13 consecutive defeats – and their first in the playoffs since 2007, when the team was anchored by Allen Iverson and Carmelo Anthony. .
Attempt # 1 failed with a 10-point loss in Game 3 that was not so close. But with a 3-1 deficit that threatened them in the face, the Nuggets regained some courage, recovering both their lamentable history and a slow start to surpass the Spurs by 26 over the last three quarters. 117-103 win in match 4.
Even with the restored advantage of the field, they still have a lot of work to do if they hope to progress. But the maturity and composure displayed by Nikola Jokic and his company on Saturday indicate that these Nuggets, unlike many of their predecessors, could actually take up the challenge.
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