Harden picks bad time to be in giving mood, fumbling away otherwise great year

OAKLAND, Calif. — James Harden walked in wearing a fancy designer shirt that has a faux shoulder holster sewn into it.

With as much trouble as he had pulling the trigger Wednesday night, he should have gone with the classic Barney Fife holster-on-the-hip look.

Fumbling and bumbling worse than he had since — oh, when was it? — Saturday, Harden picked a terrible time to have his worst playoff game as a Rocket, and his teammates weren’t good enough to overcome their leader’s absence.

Houston fell to Golden State on Wednesday night 104-90 at Oracle Arena, bringing its season to a close with a 4-1 wipeout in the Western Conference finals.

Two days after scorching the Warriors with 45 points in a brilliant performance, Harden never looked into it. He finished with more turnovers (13) than any player had ever committed in an NBA playoff game.

He finished with more

turnovers than field-goal attempts (11) and almost as many turnovers as points (14). The Rockets’ star couldn’t have picked a worse time to be so dim.

“It’s tough to lose like this, especially for myself,” Harden said. “I put so much pressure on myself to be really good every single night, and in some cases you’re not going to do that; you’re not going to be good. And tonight, that was the case.” Not his night

It was a shocking end to a superb season for the 25-year-old, who carried the Rockets throughout the season and finished second in the MVP voting behind Warriors guard Stephen Curry.

Harden was dominant all season as Houston dealt with a host of injuries, including the loss of two starters just before the playoffs began.

But Wednesday, one of the league’s best played like one of its worst.

“I mean, look, James didn’t play well, but as I’ve said all year long, we don’t win the division, we don’t win 56 games, we don’t have home court, we don’t beat the Clippers in Game 7 if it wasn’t for James,” Rockets coach Kevin McHale said. “He had a tough go tonight. There’s nothing else you can really say about it.

“Sometimes you go out there, and you’re trying your best, and things just don’t work out. I mean, I promise you, he did not plan on turning the ball over going into the game.”

Harden and the Rockets will remember their mistakes and their blown opportunities. The moments when they lost their composure and the times they didn’t do what they had done all season long.

They will blame themselves, of course, as they should, but there was another team on the floor. The best team in the NBA all season.

They’re on scholarship, too.

While the Rockets came into the game with four straight double-digit wins when facing elimination, the Warriors entered with a 46-3 record this season at Oracle Arena. Making the difference

It has been 20 years since the Rockets won their last championship. The Warriors’ 40-year run without a title dwarfs that.

Golden State is the only one with a chance of ending the drought, as it advances to the NBA Finals, where it will face the Cleveland Cavaliers, who have never won a title.

“It’s been a long time since Houston won one, too,” McHale said. “I wish it was us.”

Harden and Curry weren’t the stars we have been accustomed to seeing, but often in the playoffs, players of their caliber cancel each other out anyway.

Sometimes role players make the difference.

That was certainly the case Wednesday as Harrison Barnes delivered a surprise performance, scoring 24 points, a personal high in this postseason, to lead the Warriors to the win.

“James has been carrying us all year,” Rockets guard Jason Terry said. “You come this far, you need some help. We tried to help him as much as we could tonight. It just wasn’t his night. He doesn’t have to hang his head about anything. He’s a fighter.”

Curry, who missed nearly an hour of Monday’s game in Houston after falling hard on his back, may have had an excuse for his quiet night (23 points on 7-for-21 shooting).

Harden, on the other hand, simply had a bad night.

He was careless with the ball early on, committing eight turnovers in the first half, almost all of which were of the unforced variety. It was the most mistake-filled half of his career.

A learning experience. Lasting memory

When the game was all but settled, with the Rockets just hoping for desperation 3-pointers to make a rally, Harden capped off his night by dribbling the ball off his foot and out of bounds for his final turnover of the game.

If that is his lasting memory of the season, it would be a disservice to the best year the Rockets have had since 1997.

Then again, he had so many similar plays on Wednesday that it should be difficult for him to think of much else for a while.

“Shoot, 13 turnovers is unacceptable,” Harden said.