HARDEN TIES CAREER HIGH WITH 61 IN WIN OVER SPURS
Popovich at a loss to find a solution as guard’s showcase ‘tops them all’
The mastermind had no answers. A master was at work, a masterpiece being created.
San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich pulled out every defense he could find to deal with James Harden. But Popovich had said that if there was a way to stop the Rockets guard, no one had found it.
Popovich kept searching, trying one scheme after another. The Rockets’ roll slowed. The Spurs took a fourth-quarter lead. But Harden would not be stopped. Again. With the Spurs holding a late six-point lead, Harden blasted them with 13 points in less than three minutes, finishing with 61 to match his career high and deliver a 111-105 victory Friday night at Toyota Center.
When he was through, of all the exploits in a season like few others, Harden’s latest might have been the greatest.
“That tops them all,” Rockets guard Eric Gordon said. “MVP’s locked up after today. The level of concentration he had throughout the whole game, it’s just special.
“With all the defenses thrown at him, doubleteams and they zoned us … for him to do that (is) very special. Very.”
In the past two games, Harden has scored 118 points, topping 50 in consecutive games for the third time this season, the most for any player in NBA history other than Wilt Chamberlain. Harden became the first player with multiple 60-point games in a season since Kobe Bryant in 2005-06.
With that, Popovich’s pregame comments, long before Harden scored more points against the Spurs than anyone in Popovich’s 23 seasons, were prescient.
Asked about how to defend Harden, Popovich said, “You think I know? If anybody knew, they’d have already done it. He’s having another MVP season. He’s fantastic.”
Harden may have never been better than he was Friday, if only because of all the defensive attention he had to navigate in the second half. Harden made 19 of 34 shots, including 9 of 13 3-pointers to carry the Rockets in an otherwise misfiring night.
Of all the spectacular nights Harden had produced while averaging 36.5 points, this one had witnesses in awe.
“I don’t know how you get any better,” Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni said. “Whoever was in the gym tonight, probably (has) seen something they have never seen before. That was one of the best performances — the magnitude of the game. We needed it. Just everything.
“I don’t know how many points he got in the last four minutes (13), but we’re down six. Plus, his defense the whole game. Just everything. The guy was playing.”
Harden began the game on an offensive roll and rode that through the first half, scoring from the rim to the 3-point line with stunning ease. By halftime, he had made 10 of his 18 shots, including five of six 3-pointers, to score 37 points, two shy of his franchise record for a half.
That, however, brought the predictable Spurs’ adjustments, first with traps and then doubleteams. Harden attacked the trapping second defender, finishing drives. But he saved his best for his finish when a 19-point lead by the Rockets had become a six-point deficit, and he had to go to work again.
“We’ve seen that all year long, traps and double-teams and things like that and zones,” Harden said. “We know how to attack it.”
With just about everything else bottled up, Harden drained a stepback 3-pointer and then another. He followed with a pull-up 3, then added a mid-range jumper he banked in. Finally, with a drive to a floater, he had carried the Rockets from down six to up five with 1:42 left.
“Some of the shots he hit today, it’s remarkable,” guard Gerald Green said. “I’ve seen a lot of basketball in my life, played against a lot of people, and his talent level is something I’ve just never seen before. Just to consistently keep doing that on a day in and day out basis is just truly remarkable.
“There’s nobody that can stop him. He’s just one of those type of players that he’s able to get a shot off at any time. He doesn’t have any weaknesses. Only person that can stop him is Coach if he takes him out and the referees if they foul him out. That’s it.”
The Spurs had done enough to get the ball out of Harden’s hands for a while. His teammates missed and the Spurs surged. But with the game on the line, there was still time for Harden to find a solution to puzzle Popovich.
“At the end,” Popovich said, “James put on an MVP-type performance. So that’s that.”