Great giveaway
Offensive fouls on Harden cap a gift win for Boston
BOSTON — The Rockets had done nearly everything they could imagine to lose, but that was not enough.
It took a pair of plays they could not possibly have imagined, inexplicable plays that made even blowing a 26-point lead along the way secondary to how they lost the lead and the game against the Boston Celtics in the final four seconds Thursday night.
With the Rockets likely needing only a few free throws to escape with the victory, James Harden was called for an offensive foul, opening the way for Al Horford to put in a jump hook with 3.7 seconds left for Boston’s first lead, sending the Rockets to a fourth consecutive loss 99-98 at TD Garden.
Moments later, Harden was called for another offensive foul, again for shoving Boston’s Marcus Smart, adding to the frustration that had built with both teams as the game was officiated by two officials after one was forced to sit out with a sore back.
“First of all, I wonder how you only have two officials on a national TV game,” Harden said. “A lot of grabbing, a lot of holding. How else am I supposed to get open? The guy has two arms wrapped around my whole body.”
Smart described Harden’s foul as a “little nudge,” but
he added that Harden “lost it,” leading to him to commit his seventh and eighth turnovers of the night in the final seconds.
“The first one, we were just trying to deny him the ball,” Smart said. “We were just trying to make it real uncomfortable for him the whole night. He lost it and gave me a little nudge, and it was kind of right in front of the official, so he called it.
“Then Al scores it, and they were getting ready to take the ball out and he’s bumping me chest to chest. I’m just standing there in the spot just getting ready to play defense again. My hands are up, and then once again he does the same thing. He loses it again, and the ref was right there again and called it.”
Still, the Rockets had led by as many as 26 points. They had scored the first 12 points of the game. They had held the Celtics to fewer points in a quarter (12) and half (38) than any Rockets opponent had scored against them this season.
Two officials too few
Yet, when the Rockets’ offense bogged down badly in the second half, turnovers kick-started the Boston offense and the Rockets stopped moving, issues that Harden said also came back to the officials being shorthanded.
“We knew they were a good team,” Harden said. “We knew they were going to make a run. … We just didn’t execute when we needed to.
“It’s tough. You can’t have two officials in a professional game. There were a lot of no-calls that needed to be called because that changes the dynamic of the game. Then you get fast-break points, no-calls turnovers. It’s a professional game, national TV. It can’t happen.”
Still, the Rockets had their chances to take the win even before Harden’s offensive fouls. Harden had made a 3-pointer with 2:03 left for a four-point lead, but after Celtics guard Kyrie Irving cut the margin to two, Harden had a drive blocked, missed a 3-pointer and had a 3-pointer blocked.
The Celtics twice missed and turned the ball over, with Rockets forward P.J. Tucker making one free throw for a three-point lead with 18.7 seconds left.
‘Unbelievable’ ending
After Smart put in a layup with 13.5 seconds left, the Rockets could not get open for an inbounds pass. Trevor Ariza twice Celtics 99, Rockets 98 had to call timeouts before he could get the ball to Harden, who was fouled. Harden made both free throws for the last of his 34 points. But after Jayson Tatum scored with 7.3 seconds remaining, the Rockets had no timeouts left when Harden could not get open, leading to the offensive foul that changed everything.
“You knew they were going to deny the ball,” Eric Gordon said. “We always have all the guards try go to the ball. It’s tough to play basketball toward the end of the game like that when things are going the other way.
“Unbelievable last minute of the game. I’ve never seen nothing like that. It’s almost like, what can you do? It’s tough to talk about the ending of a game like that.”