James Harden offset 16 assists with a game-sealing turnover
Dwight Howard became the source of ridicule Saturday when referees found that he had used stickum on his hands during a game with the Atlanta Hawks. The reaction was not focused much on whether the Houston Rockets center had cheated, a point he responded to Monday, but the ridiculousness of a player using an adhesive in a sport that doesn’t seem to require such extreme control of the ball. He’s not a wide receiver, just an already adept rebounder who could probably stand to gain better touch on his free throws.
Well, Howard showed why he may have needed stickum on a crucial, game-deciding play late in Tuesday’s Rockets contest at the Oklahoma City Thunder. Because he had trouble corralling an iffy pass that could have resulted in a bucket to send the game to overtime.
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Down 109-107 with 11 seconds left after Serge Ibaka split free throws at the other end, the Rockets understandably gave the ball to James Harden to create a game-winning or game-tying shot. Instead of creating a look for himself or stretching the extra defender with penetration, Harden fired a pass into Howard, himself surrounded by several players, near the basket. It didn’t work out very well:
OK, so maybe this play was more about Harden’s poor decision than Howard’s non-stick hands. But it’s still fun to think about.
At any rate, Harden fouled Russell Westbrook for a last-ditch chance at extending the game with no timeouts, but the OKC star made both free throws to cinch the 111-107 win.
The game-deciding turnover was an odd one in part because Harden had been such a good facilitator throughout the night. He put up 24 points and a career-high 16 assists to keep the Rockets close in a back-and-forth game full of ties and lead changes.
Yet Russell Westbrook served as the Thunder’s own do-everything guard, putting up his third-straight triple-double with 21 points (7-of-18 FG and 0-of-7 3FG), 15 assists, and 13 rebounds. In addition to leading the league in triple-doubles, Westbrook has now notched six in March, the most in a month since Michael Jordan had seven while playing point guard for a stretch in April 1989. His 15 triple-doubles in 2015-16 are the most since Jordan’s 15 and Magic Johnson’s 17 in the same 1988-89 season.
This milestone wasn’t just a nice statistical moment for Westbrook, because he scored 14 of his points in the fourth quarter to offset a rather weak shooting night and keep the Rockets at bay. It wasn’t an especially pretty night for either team, but OKC’s stars had more key plays in a game dominated by the biggest names.
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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!
