No big deal here, it was just the most exciting and meaningful Rockets win of the season. LeBron James and his Cavaliers super team just happened to swing by and deliver the most intense and scrappy battle Houston has seen this year, and James Harden just happened to deliver item number seven thousand in his ever-growing MVP resume. It was pure coincidence that this game went to overtime, giving the world five more minutes to watch two of the best players in the world literally struggle against one another. And, somehow, in the end, the game came down to free throw shooting, but not in the way you might think.
This was a fun, tight, exciting game throughout the first half, with neither team gaining a double digit lead. And then the third quarter started, and Patrick Beverley tried to take a charge against LeBron James. That it was eventually called as a blocking foul was immaterial. The ensuing scuffle, however, set a tone that would persist throughout the remainder of the game. As LeBron James fell to the floor, he placed his hand on Beverley’s chest, something which Patrick seemed to take objection to. A shouting match upgraded to some kind of mass scuffle, and double techs were issued. The game was back on.
And then things got intense.
Both teams were heated at this point, with a series of increasingly hostile interactions leading up to an overtime finish. Timofey Mozgov and James Harden fell to the ground while scrambling for a loose ball, a scrum which ended with Mozgov grabbing James Harden’s foot to foul him and prevent a fast break. Trevor Ariza, in turn, got into Mozgov’s face in a later possession, for which he was issued a technical foul. (for which LeBron missed the free throw, in a shocking pattern.) This string of events would come to a head with Harden scrambling for a loose ball while James comes after him, resulting in an angry kick from Harden directly into LeBron’s groin. Surprisingly, Harden was let off with a mere flagrant foul, but the Rockets have found themselves in the sights of yet another team.
This game turned into a battle for MVP votes somewhere along the way, and the short answer is that James Harden won it. The longer answer is that they two players had eerily similar stat lines, with a couple glaring exceptions. LeBron James scored 37 points, grabbed 8 rebounds, dished 4 assists and surrounded that with 3 steals, 3 blocks and 4 turnovers. Harden’s line was a similar 33 points, 8 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 steals, 2 blocks and 5 turnovers. The difference came in efficiency. LeBron James shot 15-35 to get there, including 4-12 from deep, and most notably he missed 8 of his 11 free throw attempts, including two consecutive misses at the end of the game. Harden, for his part, shot 8-18, 2-6 three pointers, and 15-18 (!!!) at the stripe.
The game ended not with a bang, but with a weird confusing few possessions in which Harden at one point hooked LeBron and tried to use him like a puppet to get a foul, which didn’t work. After LeBron failed to hit free throws, Harden did indeed seal the game, but missed on purpose with .6 seconds left in order to burn the clock. After a review, the Cavs were given a final .3 seconds to shoot a three for the win, but couldn’t get the shot off in time, which Josh Smith blocked for good measure. The rest of the plays for the Cavs were largely isolation for LeBron James, in a dark mirror of Houston’s plays for James Harden. Trevor Ariza proved up to the task however, and even James Harden had success guarding LeBron. It turns out that Harden has always been a solid one on one defender, and that hasn’t changed.
It was an up and down game, and the team largely played the way it needs to, though the bench embarrassingly gave up an 8 point lead in a mere 90 seconds to start the fourth. They also helped key in a vicious third quarter in which the Rockets hovered at an 8-10 point lead. We got the best of Josh Smith and the worst of Josh Smith. Terrence Jones grabbed rebounds and dunked like crazy. Donatas Motiejunas shook his man in the post. Trevor Ariza defended with the best of them and Corey Brewer fired it up off the bench. If this team can keep up this intensity, they’re going to be a holy terror this post season. Oh, and they’ll get Dwight Howard back, too.
