James Harden's 54 points not enough to lift Rockets past Wizards
Photo: Rob Carr, Getty Images
When he could carry the Rockets no farther, consecutive last-minute turnovers and two more in overtime finally stopping him, the Wizards had the opening they needed.
The Wizards rolled just long enough in overtime to send the Rockets to a third-consecutive defeat, taking a 135-131 win despite Harden scoring a season-high 54 points with 13 assists.
The Rockets got a season-high 36 points from Eric Gordon. But with Bradley Beal and John Wall combining for 68, the Wizards hit 56.8 percent of their shots in the top-scoring game against the Rockets this season.
Harden, who had averaged 34.1 points in his previous seven games to take over the NBA scoring lead, had 44 through three quarters, the third time in four games he had reached 40 and the ninth time in his career he has scored 40 in consecutive games. He became the first player to had double-digit assists while scoring 40 points in back-to-back games since he did it in March, 2017.
The Rockets had been fading badly, with their defense unable to slow the Wizards enough to make any of a 17-point first quarter lead last. But if the Rockets were not going to keep the Wizards from scoring, Harden would keep them in the game another way.
He began the second half with a drive to a three-point play that regained the lead. That offered a glimpse of what was to come. Harden moved his recent offensive roll to unstoppable. Harden needed just 10 shots to score 21 third-quarter points, putting in three 3-pointers and briefly building a nine-point lead.
As with the rest of the game, the Rockets could not get the stops to make that last. The Wizards cut the lead to four heading to the fourth quarter and needed less than two minutes to go back in front.
Neither team defended well enough to pull away. While Harden slowed down a bit, Gordon kept on rolling, with his eighth 3-pointer matching his career high and giving the Rockets a three-point lead with 4:41 left. After a Jeff Green drive and Clint Capela layup, Markieff Morris tied the game with a 3-pointer.
The Rockets defense was unable to slow the Wizards until the final two minutes, and when they did, Bradley Beal put in a 3-pointer off an offensive rebound for a one-point Washington lead.
Harden airballed a 3 and twice lost the ball on drives. But with the Wizards up two, he found Capela for an alley-oop slam and a tie game with 9.8 left.
The Wizards put the ball in Wall's hands. P.J. Tucker switched and when Wall went up for a mid-range jumper, Tucker swatted the ball away and left the Rockets one second to get the win in regulation.
Gordon, however, could not get off his 3-pointer, with Wall swatting it to send the Rockets to overtime for the second time on the three-game road trip.
The way the Rockets began the game, it did not see as if the Wizards would be able to keep pace with the scoring, but it was also certain the Rockets could not either. Making their first seven 3-pointers on the way to a 30-13 seven-minute rush to start the game assured they would cool off.
Yet, when they predictably misfired, making 1 of 15 3-pointers through the rest of the first half, that was not their biggest problem.
The shots that had been falling missed. The lack of scoring off the bench became an even greater issue. But most of all, the Rockets were unable to stay in front of anyone off the dribble.
The Wizards, who rank 15th in points in the paint, scored 22 inside in the second quarter, most on drives to the rim. That and the Wizards' 65 percent shooting in the quarter did not even capture how badly the Rockets had been burned with the Rockets also fouling so often the Wizards put up 11 free throws, making 10, in a 37-point quarter.
When the Rockets headed into the second half down 67-65, they could hope for another second half defensive turnaround. Ranking 27th defensively in the first half, they went into the game fourth in the second half. But the Wizards have followed the same pattern, with Washington going from tied for last defensively in the first half to 13th in the second half.
Instead of their usual, both teams rolled until the final minute when neither could put the game away before the Rockets headed to another overtime.
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