James Harden drains buzzer-beater winner, Rockets hold off Suns
The Houston Rockets rested on the verge of blowing a big fourth-quarter lead to the host Phoenix Suns on Friday night. Then the NBA’s leading scorer reminded everyone of his genius.
With a little more than six minutes remaining in regulation, the Rockets led the Suns 102-86, a sizable margin that appeared very difficult to surmount given the momentum and state of the game. All Phoenix did to respond was reel off 14-4 run over more than 3 1/2 minutes to make it a contest again, ultimately tying the game up on an old-fashioned three-point-play lay-up from forward Markieff Morris with just 16 seconds remaining.
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The Rockets had one possession to grab back a win and avoid what projected as a trying overtime. Not surprisingly, they gave the ball to James Harden in isolation against P.J. Tucker. The resulting play was downright filthy:
Harden finished with a now-characteristic 33 points (8-of-18 FG, 14-of-17 FT) along with 10 assists and three steals in the 113-111 win. It was all very much needed on a night when Dwight Howard played just eight minutes before leaving the game in the first quarter due to a sprained right ankle.
Before his buzzer-beater, Harden had an arguably more impressive highlight (out of context, at least) when he sent Eric Bledsoe sprawling with a Eurostep in transition:
If you check the score, you’ll see that’s the last basket Houston scored before Phoenix started its comeback. Of course, Harden ended up with the final word.
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Eric Freeman is a writer for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
