Harden again tops Westbrook where it matters
Harden facilitates shooting exhibition not seen since ’90s
James Harden has a pedestrian — for him — 22 points and 12 assists, but he again leads the Rockets to a win over MVP rival Russell Westbrook and the Thunder, the Rockets’ third in four meetings.
With the clock down to its final ticks of the third quarter Sunday, James Harden pulled up and launched a leaning 3 with a flight long enough for another MVP chant to echo in Toyota Center before the buzzer would sing along.
In a way, the shot was typical of the day, with Harden holding out the word “Rockets” on his chest to celebrate a game in which his team poured in 3s on the way to a tip-to-horn 137-125 blowout of the Oklahoma City Thunder.
But another Harden moment might have better represented how the Rockets did it. He had slipped a pass to Trevor Ariza the
way dads flip the ball to their kids on the driveway and watched his teammates go to work. With the Thunder shading defensive help toward Harden, Ariza attacked and found Nene at the rim for a slam as the Rockets blitzed the Thunder with waves of scoring from all kinds of sources.
“They got to pick and choose what they want (to defend),” said Eric Gordon, who moved into the starting lineup and had 24 points. “He’s going to get a layup or kick it out, and everybody’s going to knock down shots. Everybody got hot. Play that way, and no team’s going to beat us.”
As much as the MVP candidate showdown of Harden and Russell Westbrook offered more evidence of Westbrook’s explosive excellence and Harden’s ability to lead his team to wins, the difference might have been the way Harden set up his teammates to go to work around him.
Westbrook scored 18 of his 39 points in the fourth quarter, after the Rockets had taken the lead to 25 points. Harden had just two fourth-quarter points, finishing with 22 and 12 assists. But from the start, the Rockets burned the Oklahoma City defense not just with marksmanship better than in any game since 1995 but with the way they executed to get those shots.
Spreading the wealth
“They tried to get me off the ball,” Harden said. “Just trusting my teammates and make the right play. Trevor made some big shots. He made some big plays on his penetration. Eric, Pat (Beverley), Lou (Williams), all those guys did a really good job of making the extra play, whether it was a shot or getting to the basket and allowing Nene to finish.”
The Rockets made 63.3 percent of their shots, their best shooting performance since a 63.4 percent game in the 1994-95 season. They made 20 of 39 3s, giving them 10 games with at least 20 3-pointers, three more games than the previous NBA single-season record. They have scored at least 130 points 11 times this season, the most in the NBA since the 1992-93 season and the most for a Rockets team since 1969-70.
Yet as often as the Rockets have put up recordbook numbers, they did it Sunday with Harden fourth in scoring.
“He could have got 40,” Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni said. “But he knew these guys were going and threw the ball their way.”
Westbrook had his 36th triple double, five shy of Oscar Robertson’s record for a season; Harden had his 46th point-assist doubledouble, the most since Nate Archibald in the 1972-73 season. But the Rockets controlled the game offensively because of how well they executed on the plays that did not end with a Harden pass or shot.
31 for Williams
“He did a good job of just getting everybody involved,” said Williams, who had 31 points in 31 minutes, his 10th game this season scoring at least one point per minute on the floor. “He didn’t force the game. There were guys that were open, and he was making the good pass.
“When we are making shots, we are probably one of the hardest teams to guard.”
They were more than the Thunder could handle. Westbrook’s fourth-quarter blitz brought Oklahoma City within eight, but with that, Harden passed to Ariza, who set up Nene for one more dunk, ending any lingering doubt.
“It’s about trusting each other, let everybody make the right play,” said Ariza, who had 24 points and six assists. “When they trap James, it means somebody else is open. You’ve got to be aggressive.”
On Sunday, it was about more than the show or the showdown.
“Over here at the Houston Rockets, we’re focused on winning games,” Beverley said. “Our focus is on basketball and winning, and that’s where it’s going to continue to be.”