Rockets bury Mavs
DALLAS Mavericks centre Andrew Bogut didn’t see what the fuss was about, but his hard foul on Houston star James Harden helped send the Rockets into orbit on Tuesday.
Australia’s Bogut was called for a Flagrant One foul in the second quarter when he set a jarring screen on Harden.
The Rockets were on an 11-0 scoring run at the time and Harden’s ensuing two free throws and a threepointer stretched it to 16-0.
“I don’t know what they was on tonight,” Harden said after the Rockets triumphed 123-107 in an ill-tempered clash in Dallas that featured a total of eight technical fouls, two
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Flagrant One fouls and the ejection of the Rockets’ Trevor Ariza.
“That other team were trippin’ tonight, just disrespectful, unprofessional — players and coaches,” Harden said.
“I don’t know what was their problem, but I think that got us going.
“They wanted to throw a little cheap shot and just woke us up a little bit, and it was over from there.”
Bogut, back after missing 11 games with a bone bruise on his right knee, said he didn’t think he committed a flagrant foul.
“If you watch the replay, yeah, (Harden) made no effort to run around my screen,” Bogut said.
“So obviously I turned to protect myself and hit him and he went face-first into my shoulder. Yeah, it was a hard screen and I set hard screens.
“But to get a flagrant for it is kind of head-scratching when I felt like (Mavs guard) Justin Anderson had his wrist in a ju-jitsu hold four plays later, and that was brushed off like a regular foul.”
Harden scored 34 points with 11 assists for Houston, who got 22 points from Ryan Anderson.
But the animosity didn’t end at the final buzzer.
Houston’s Ariza, ejected after receiving a second technical foul between the third and fourth quarters, was still angry with Mavericks centre Salah Mejri after the game, although a hallway showdown between the two was averted.
“I don’t know what that was. It wasn’t even basketball,” Dallas guard Wesley Matthews said of explosive emotions on display. “Tempers — two in-state teams that play each other four times . ... We have to be better than that. There was opportunity for us to channel it into basketball, and we didn’t do that.”
RESULTS: Utah 102 LA Lakers 100, Houston 123 Dallas 107, Boston 113 Memphis 103, Oklahoma 106 Miami 94.