The Houston Rockets have persevered. They have fought over, scratched, and ground out victory after victory over the past several games. But as wonderful as this past stretch of games has been, you cannot help but wait for the other shoe to drop. Sooner or later, the Rockets would be worn out, battered by a thin rotation and relying far too much on James Harden’s offensive genius on that end of the court.
That moment nearly came today, as the Rockets sputtered out of the gate and led for all of 16 seconds in regulation play. But James Harden, dealing with back spasms and exhaustion, came out, made the tying shot to force overtime, fought for 48 minutes after playing 40 last night, and scored a season high 44 points to will the Houston Rockets to victory. Your move in the MVP battle, Stephen and Marc.
At the start, it looked like the Rockets would never even get close enough to the Kings for Harden to save the day. It took Houston 16 minutes to score 20 points, as the team appeared completely exhausted and unable to score after last night’s war with Golden State. The most interesting thing was watching the Sacramento fans react to Jason Terry. Terry last summer said that Demarcus Cousins had a shaky attitude and that Rudy Gay was not a proven winner – all while officially being a player on the Kings. He was booed by Sacramento’s passionate fans as loudly as I’ve ever seen a 37-year-old player booed in this league.
“Unproven winner” Rudy Gay was terrible throughout the game and would miss the potential game winner at the end of regulation play, but Ben McLemore and Darren Collison shot well enough to carry the Kings ahead for practically the entire game. For the first three quarters, the Rockets bumbled around, watched their big men get into foul trouble (Tarik Black, Donatas Motiejunas, and Joey Dorsey all had 4 fouls midway through the third quarter) and occasionally put the ball into the basket. Ariza played better in the fourth quarter, but his woes from long range continued tonight. He has hit more than a third of his 3-pointers just once in the past six games and twice in the past 14.
Sacramento led 69-61 at the start of the fourth quarter, but the Rockets finally began to hit 3-pointers, making more in the fourth than in the previous three quarters combined. Nick Johnson had a huge dunk where he jumped over Ramon Sessions, Troy Daniels had some success hitting shots late in the game, and the Rockets made this a game again. The Kings also could not miss their jump shots, but Houston’s defense forced multiple turnovers down the stretch and Sacramento missed far too many free throws. Joey Dorsey should get some credit, as he bolstered Houston’s defense and grabbed 5 steals when Motiejunas fouled out late.
But Harden? Man, Harden. Sacramento just could not stop him from getting to the rim down the stretch. It was not just that 3-pointer he hit to tie the game. In overtime, Harden just drove to the lane and grabbed the layup. Harden has been frequently criticized for looking for the foul shot as opposed to actually trying to make the basket, but there was none of that here. He grabbed 12 points in overtime, including the first 7 points of the period, to put Houston up the rest of the way.
Harden is playing far too many minutes and was staggering towards the bench late in overtime, but Kevin McHale is aware of this as much as anyone else. McHale took Harden out for a minute in the middle of the fourth quarter in an attempt to buy his star some rest even when the Rockets were behind. But this team is just too dependent on Harden right now.
So, here we are. The Houston Rockets are 17-5, a pace good for more than 63 wins but only enough for just 4th place in this Western Conference. They have played far better than anyone could ask of them, but the players are clearly exhausted from the short rotation and did struggle to defeat a Sacramento team which just is not that good without Cousins. But the cavalry may finally arrive on Saturday against the Nuggets. Isaiah Canaan hopes to have recovered from his sprained ankle by then, and of course Dwight Howard may finally, finally be ready. Let us hope the recent reports that his knee may be bone on bone are exaggerated.
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