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Harden scores 45, but rest of team suffers dismal shooting performance
» The Pacers overcome 45 by James Harden.
Russell Westbrook was not all the Rockets were missing on Wednesday.
On the day they learned their star guard would be out on Friday with no certainty about when he would return, the Rockets were missing 3-pointers from just about everyone trying to fill that offensive void.
Forced to rely on James Harden to carry them with their shooting touch off, the Rockets went through long dry spells before falling to the Pacers 108-104 Wednesday on the NBA’s Florida campus in Lake Buenva Vista.
The loss assured the Rockets will be the fourth or fifth seed in the Western Conference playoffs, playing the Oklahoma City Thunder in the first round next week.
Harden had his 21st 40point game of the season, finishing with 45 points, 17 rebounds and nine assists, matching his career high for rebounds. But the rest of the Rockets made just 9 of 43 3-pointers.
“You could see James didn’t play in the (first game of the) back-to-back; his legs were fine,” Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni said. “He was 7 of 14 (on 3s.) The rest of the guys, their legs were dead. This is the first back-to-back we’ve had in the bubble.”
The Pacers clinched the win after a late 14-2 Rockets run cut the lead to two. But the Rockets could not secure the defensive rebound of a missed Victor Oladipo 3-pointer, forcing them to foul Justin Holiday, who made two free throws for a safe four-point lead.
Eric Gordon played for the first time in the restart and had 13 points in 20 minutes but made just 1 of 9 3pointers.e Austin Rivers made 1 of 9 shots and Ben McLemore went 2 of 9.
The struggles of the guards playing when either Harden or Westbrook are normally running the offense led to long lapses when Harden was out. The Rockets outscored the Pacers by 11 when Harden was in the game and were outscored by 15 in the 12½ minutes he was out.
That made Westbrook’s absence conspicuous — and concerning.