Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Heat fall to Rockets, Harden
His 58 points set the record for scoring by Heat opponent
HOUSTON — Going toe-to-toe with the Golden State Warriors was the challenge a night earlier.
All that required was taking down an entire team.
This time the task was singular, and far more imposing in all of its bearded splendor.
With James Harden scoring 58 points, the most ever by an opponent, the Miami Heat could only marvel at the dominance of it all in what turned into a 121-118 Houston Rockets victory at the Toyota Center.
The previous high against the Heat was 54 by Willie Burton when he was with the Philadelphia 76ers, on Dec. 13, 1994.
Harden closed 16 of 32 from the field, 8 of 18 on 3-pointers and 18 of 18 from the line, tossing in 10 assists for good measure.
It was too much for the Heat to overcome on a night Kelly Olynyk scored 21, Goran Dragic 21, Justise Winslow 19 and Josh Richardson 18.
The Heat trailed 33-32 at the end of the first period, led 69-55 at halftime and then pushed their lead to 21 early in the third period.
But just as the Warriors fought back from a 24-point deficit against the Heat a night earlier, the Rockets quickly had their deficit down to nine by the midpoint of the third period.
Then, after Rockets forward P.J. Tucker was ejected with a pair of fouls for arguing an offensive foul later in the third period, the Heat regrouped to go into the fourth quarter up 98-86.
From there, Harden stepped it up to another level, with the Rockets eventually moving up 115-113 on a pair of Chris Paul free throws.
Eventually, on an offensive rebound off a Harden miss, Paul converted a 15-foot jumper with 46.2 seconds to play for a 121-118 Rockets lead.
The Heat then had a chance to tie in the waning seconds, with Dion Waiters off on a 3-point attempt.
Four degrees of Heat from Thursday’s game:
1. Singular focus: The Heat ran just about every possible defender and every possible defensive alignment at Harden.
And the Rockets’ scoring leader still closed the opening two periods with 24 points, taking on all comers, from Winslow to Richardson to Derrick Jones Jr. to Rodney McGruder.
It reached the point where Heat defenders were avoiding leaving arms exposed for Harden to hunt for fouls, which he nonetheless adroitly achieved, at 12 of 12 from the line going into the final period.
Harden reached 50 with 6:09 to play on a running in the lane that tacked on his 51st point with the ensuing free throw that lifted him to 15 of 15 from the line.
2. Zoning out: Just as they did in the teams’ previous meeting, the Heat turned to zone defense early, with the Rockets up to nine turnovers at a stage when the Heat had one.
It is an area where the return of Jones from his knee injury and the additional time for Bam Adebayo amid Hassan Whiteside’s injury absence, had aided in the approach.
The Heat frequently went to the 2-3 with Jones and Richardson at the top, Adebayo in the middle, with less mobile wing in the corners, reducing the defensive exposure of Dragic and Dion Waiters.
It was enough to contain the other Rockets.
But eventually not Harden.
3. The complete Winslow: Winslow returned to his hometown with another display of how slowing down his game has sped up his productivity.
Instead of attacking first and worrying about finishing later, Winslow continues to take a more refined approach off the dribble, closing the first half with four assists, four rebounds and five baskets, taking what is given.
4. Kelly, too: Olynyk continues to thrive at power forward, with Erik Spoelstra noting how Adebayo’s agility makes it easier for the Heat to go big but still compete with smaller lineups.
Olynyk again helped space the floor with his 3-point shooting.