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‘Fast’ Harden stars for Rockets
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JAMES Harden isn’t necessarily known for his speed. That said, he felt extremely fast on his coast-to-coast drive in the fading seconds on Monday night.
“I was running so fast,” Harden said. “I felt like I was Usain Bolt.”
Harden drove the length of the floor for a layup with 2.4 seconds left to lift the Houston Rockets over the Denver Nuggets 125-124.
Harden had 39 points, 11 assists and was three rebounds shy of his 20th triple-double of the season. Houston outlasted Denver in a duel between the second- and third-highest scoring teams in the NBA.
“The second half just became a shootout at the O.K. Corral — who’s going to score more points?” Nuggets coach Mike Malone said.
“I hate those kind of games because when you’re playing against the third seed in the Western Conference on their home floor and you’re turning the ball over, you’re going to have a hard time keeping pace with them. But we did that and gave ourselves a chance.”
Harden likely saved the game for Houston, too, when he batted down an inbound pass to Mason Plumlee near the basket following his layup.
“We were trying to get the lob, and I thought it was a good play call,” Plumlee said. “We just didn’t convert it.”
Will Barton gave Denver a one-point lead on a three-point play with less than a minute left. On the following possession, Harden missed a layup, but he got it back on the other end of the floor when he rebounded Jameer Nelson’s air-ball.
Harden took the ball down the court and scored on a finger-roll layup.
In Oklahoma City, Klay Thompson scored 34 points to help the Golden State Warriors beat the Thunder 111-95 in a heated matchup filled with trash talking, physical play and technical fouls.
Stephen Curry exchanged shoves with Oklahoma City’s Semaj Christon just before halftime, and both were issued technical fouls. Oklahoma City’s Russell Westbrook and Golden State’s Draymond Green also got technical for their roles in the skirmish. The Warriors were overpowering in this one, leading by as many as 27 points while completing a sweep of the four-game season series.
Curry scored 23 points for the Warriors, who won their fourth straight and halted Oklahoma City’s win streak at five games.
Elsewhere, it was: Celtics 110, Wizards 102; Clippers 114, Knicks 105; Pacers 107, Jazz 100; Hornets 105, Hawks 90; and Magic 112, 76ers 109, OT.
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