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James Harden broke an NBA playoff record for futility in the third game against the Jazz, missing his first 15 throws in three quarters and his change of action, and yet the Houston Rockets on the road , always found the way to win the match. 104-101, to take a 3-0 lead in the series.
Winning a playoff game on the road in Utah is hard enough. Winning a playoff game on the road in Utah when your best player spends 3-20 on the field seems, on paper, to be impossible. That says a lot about the Rockets. That also says a lot about Harden, who told ESPN during his post-match interview that he did not know that he was nil for the 15 at one point. Listen, I find it hard to believe that Harden was totally unaware that he was not connected from three quarters with one shot on the pitch, but he did three shots, including two to three to get to the fourth quarter. points, tell a bigger story anyway.
When Harden's teammates needed him the most, he was there.
When Harden needed his teammates the most, they were also present.
Remember when the Rockets missed 27 3-point markers en route to finish with 7 for 44 after losing ground in Game 7 last year against the Warriors? Harden has been 2 for 13 from three in this game. The rest of the Rockets were 5 to 31. Nobody took it. Saturday, Harden was exactly the same 2 for 13 against 3, but this time, the rest of the Rockets, although not great, exchanged 13 shots, some very timely.
Eric Gordon did not play well, but scored a whopping fourth quarter to put Houston ahead of a four with 2:32 to play in the game. Austin Rivers and Gerald Green combined to go 5-8 on three of the bench. Paul, who did not play in Match 7 last season, scored 18 points and two points. All of this has resulted in just enough.
"Man, I went up to [Harden] in this time-out, and I said, "lift your booty," "Paul said in the post-game interview." He knows how we play. We do not look at the number of hits you made or missed. … you put the work in it. That is why you work all summer. We believe in him as we believe in Gerald [Green] and all the members of our team, and we keep playing and staying the course. The coach puts the greatest confidence in the guys to keep shooting … Because at the end of the day, it's winning the game. "
And win the match, the Rockets did. Largely because of Harden's game in the fourth. In one way or another, he has always led the Rockets scoring on a historically bad shooting night, scoring 14 free throws on 16 for 22 points, and with Utah continuing to roll out some of the craziest defensive tactics ever seen defense behind him), we must commend Harden for his ability to generate an attack via the pass with 10 assists. He was patient. Time and time again, he accepted the free pass in the lane and logged on on lobs and kick-outs.
However, at the end of the day, it is the mark of Harden that wins Houston, and it is in fact a bucket, his last goal of the match, which allowed to eliminate the barrage of misfires which preceded it . It only lasted a little over a minute and a half, and Donovan Mitchell had just reduced Houston's gap with a three-point pullback. On the following possession, Harden did this:
Ladies and gentlemen, this is a man who had missed his first 15 shots and who had managed only one of 12 shots at that time, absolutely sticky and having three defeats with a defender. It's such a big shot, without awareness, there are not even words to say it. As Paul said, D'Antoni, and in fact the whole organization of the Rockets, told these guys to continue shooting. It's the same thing that Nuggets coach Mike Malone told Jamal Murray in the second game of the series against the Spurs, while Murray was 0-for-8 before ending up in the fourth quarter. , to finish 8 for 9 last and lead the Nuggets to victory.
When I was in New Orleans this pre-season, Jrue Holiday talked about the power of positive speech. He said that he had not really believed it for a long time, but then he found the impact on his self-confidence when coaches encouraged him to shoot. Keep shooting. We believe in you. Even at the professional level, with athletes who have spent all their lives cultivating the belief that no outside influence could seemingly override it, trust is a fickle thing and can be replenished from time to time.
And again, in the case of the Rockets, that confidence goes both ways. Yes, Harden's teammates and coaches have confidence in his ability to play big when they need him the most, but with a team that can defend him on the worst shooting night of his career, a team playing quietly an excellent defense and can Win a game in many ways, Harden can be assured that he does not always have to save the game. These rockets can save it from time to time.
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