James Harden does it all until Mavs smother him, Rockets
DALLAS — The Houston Rockets‘ best player is James Harden. That’s pretty clear. He leads the team in scoring, he leads the team in touches and he leads the team in where the offense is supposed to go.
At the start of a vital fourth quarter, probably one of the biggest of the season, Harden was dominating. He scored the first 11 points and it seemed the Rockets were on the verge of taking out the Dallas Mavericks and pushing themselves back into the top eight teams in the Western Conference.
A funny thing happened on that path, the Mavericks smothered Harden, he couldn’t move, and when he did it was too late.
And the Mavericks’ aging superstar, Dirk Nowitzki, stripped Harden of the ball on a potential go-ahead basket attempt, preserving an 88-86 Dallas win on Wednesday night.
“We all know how tough it is, how important this game was,” Harden said.
Houston’s loss keeps it a game back of the eighth-seeded Utah Jazz and two back of the seventh-seeded Mavs with four games left in the regular season.
Harden slowly got dressed in the locker room afterward, and it’s clear with each and every loss the frustration is taking over him, the reality that the Rockets might miss the postseason is sinking in.
This group, currently two games under .500, believes it can surge past Utah and maybe even Dallas to reach the postseason.
Houston’s schedule is favorable considering its four remaining games are against sub-.500 teams, and that one of those teams is a 20-win Phoenix team that already has lost to Houston twice this season.
It doesn’t really matter what the records are, you still have to play these games. The Rockets haven’t won four consecutive games since January and have suffered three losses to the powerhouse Denver Nuggets, two more against the mighty Brooklyn Nets and one to the great Orlando Magic.
Of course, let’s not forget the home loss to Golden State with Stephen Curry sitting out on New Year’s Eve.
The confidence in the Rockets’ ability to reach the postseason is waning outside the locker room.
“There is really no good way to lose, I guess, especially at this point in time in the season,” Trevor Ariza said. “I don’t think this team has anybody that lacks confidence. You look up and down the room, everybody has different personalities, but lack of confidence, I don’t think that’s one of the things that we do.”
But we have Harden, and for all his magic on the floor even he needs help.
The official box score has Harden scoring 26 points, snagging 5 rebounds, with 4 assists and 2 blocks. But of the six turnovers, the last one basically cost his team the game.
“They just started standing on top of him,” interim coach J.B. Bickerstaff said. “Started being aggressive in the pick-and-rolls when we ran it. In those situations we have to do more of the little things to create leads, set screens and guys move a little bit more. Give [Dallas] credit they ran a good game plan and executed it more.”
With Dallas taking Harden out, Houston just never got Dwight Howard involved from a half-court standpoint, and Harden noted there was some movement but his teammates just missed shots. After Harden scored on a tying layup with 5:19 to play, Houston missed six of its next eight shots, including two missed 3s from Harden.
Yet Houston trailed just 86-85 with less than 30 seconds to play when Harden matched up against Wesley Matthews, who just wore him down in the final stages of the fourth quarter.
Harden’s skill set allowed him to get past Matthews and drive to the hole, a layup and a potential and-one was coming.
Nowitzki reached out and stripped him of the ball.
“I didn’t even see him,” Harden said.
Harden had no choice but to foul, and after Devin Harris made two free throws for a 88-85 lead, the Mavs made the smart play and fouled Jason Terry in the frontcourt. Terry made the first shot and purposely missed the second one, leading to contact and a mad scramble at the final buzzer.
Bickerstaff walked over to the refs barking, as did Terry, but it was too late because it wasn’t going to change the outcome.
Now Harden and his team are faced with winning out. That’s right, four consecutive victories to make the postseason.
Four wins. A sweep against four different teams, all headed home for the spring by the middle of next week when the regular season concludes.
“It’s not rocket science,” Harden said. “We all know that we’ve just got to take care of tomorrow and control our own destiny.”
