Gordon beats buzzer, Philly with 3-pointer
Final 6.4 seconds are executed to perfection to cap 9-0 run
PHILADELPHIA — The Rockets had done just enough to give themselves a last chance. It was not much of a chance, but after three minutes of defensive stops, with any Philadelphia 76ers basket enough to ice the victory, the Rockets had 6.4 seconds to pull off a heist.
All they had to do is fit in three passes, a drive, a pump fake, a dribble and a 3-pointer at the buzzer over nearly 14 feet of flying defenders, with any misstep in a game full of them more than they could have overcome.
Eric Gordon, who had made 1 of 8 second-half 3s, caught the last pass of the game and moved as coolly as in the shooting drills he and James Harden go through together every morning. When Gordon nailed his 3-pointer over the Sixers’ Joel Embiid and Robert Covington, he lifted the Rockets to a stunning 105-104 win Wednesday night.
“It means a lot,” said Gordon, who scored a game-high 29 points. “A lot of guys are out. We needed a spark. We needed this game. We’re never going to be out of the game. We’ve been down like this before many times. Even Golden State, we were down by a lot (17 points) and came back and won. We just played better defense down the stretch of the game.
“It was great. I wish we could play like that early in the game instead of being in that situation.”
Big game for Capela
With the Rockets down by eight points with 3:05 left following a Ben Simmons drive, the Sixers did not score again. Instead, the Rockets went on a 9-0 run to steal the game.
First, Clint Capela blocked a Simmons drive. P.J. Tucker and James Harden had steals. With 6.4 seconds left, Harden blocked a Jerryd Bayless shot — his third block of the game — to force a shot clock violation and give the Rockets a last chance.
“Early in the game, we gave them confidence, had a lot of open looks, especially in transition,” Harden said. “Kind of shut (them) down in the last couple minutes.”
The Rockets got 16 points along with a career-high 20 rebounds from Capela in his battle with Embiid. Harden and Gordon combined for 56 points, with Harden adding 13 assists. They even got a bit of prognostication from injured point guard Chris Paul.
With 30.4 seconds left, Harden scored on a drive, with Embiid landing on him. The shot was ruled goal-tending with a foul on J.J. Redick. Before Harden’s free throw to reduce the margin to two points, the Rockets huddled during a video review, with coach Mike D’Antoni saying “Chris Paul said, ‘We’re going to get a stop, Eric you’re going to hit a 3 and then we’re going to get in the shower as quick as we can.’ ”
Still, D’Antoni had to draw up a new sideline out-of-bounds play. Normally, Trevor Ariza inbounds in that situation, but he is out with a sprained left foot. With the 7-2 Embiid challenging the pass, Gordon inbounded to Ryan Anderson.
“The first look was back door for Eric because Embiid was guarding the inbounds pass,” Anderson said. “The next was to get the ball to James. Obviously, he made the right play to the right guy.”
Two-second drill
Harden used a screen from Anderson to get past Bayless and then just edged past Covington off the dribble.
“I knew we had enough time to where if I was to drive and get a little step, Embiid’s natural reaction was to come in and help,” Harden said. “I kicked it to (Gordon). Knockdown shot we shoot every morning.”
Gordon still had to free himself from the rapidly closing Embiid and Covington. He put a pump fake on Embiid to get him off his feet and them made a sharp, one dribble move to get space before Covington could get there, sinking his 3-pointer over both.
“Right when he was driving, I glanced at the clock,” Gordon said. “Whenever you have two seconds, you have (time for) at least one dribble. I saw Embiid coming. I had to side-step and make the shot. That was the only way. If I would have shot it straight up, he would have blocked it.”
Instead, the Rockets won a game that had seemed lost, fitting in everything they had to and more than seemed possible in their six-second last chance.