The Houston Rockets probably don’t have the depth of physical talent to win an NBA title just yet. But mentally, James Harden’s team could already be there.
They made that statement quite clear in Monday’s Game 4, a game most expected to be Golden State’s title coronation after grabbing a 3-0 series lead. Instead, led by 45 points from the MVP-runner-up, the Rockets improved to 4-0 this postseason in elimination games — and 7-2 in the Harden era. These Rockets are now just the second team in NBA history to win four straight elimination games by double digits in the same postseason.
“I told them, ‘No one feels sorry for you. Don’t feel sorry for yourself,’” head coach Kevin McHale said of his pregame message to the team. “I don’t understand what feeling sorry has ever done for anybody. I’m not a big fan of that.
“So, I just kind of got on their ass [the day before],” he added. If you’re going to feel sorry for yourself, don’t show up. We’re going to go out and fight. You got to come out swinging.”
They certainly did that on Monday, with their 45 first-quarter points representing the most in a first quarter in NBA playoff history under the shot-clock era. Houston ultimately won the game, 128-115, and now returns to Golden State on Wednesday for Game 5, trailing 3-1 in the Western Conference Finals.
“They won the game in the first quarter,” said Steve Kerr, Golden State’s coach.
HARDEN’S IMPROVED PLAYOFF PERFORMANCE
So how did the Rockets flip a 35-point beatdown in Game 3 into a convincing 13-point win in Game 4? To put it simply, the MVP version of Harden – you know, the one that kept the Rockets extremely competitive in Oakland earlier this series – made his return. After scoring just 17 points on 3-of-16 shooting in Game 3 with a plus/minus of -31, Harden scored his 45 points on 13-of-22 shooting in Game 4, giving him a team-leading plus/minus of +20.
“It was a combination of just moving my body, setting screens, cutting, coming off when I got an opportunity, coming off hard to attack, and ultimately just being aggressive,” Harden said of his improved performance in Game 4. “I was taking my shot when I had it, and mixing it up.”
There was a narrative going into these playoffs about “Playoff Harden”, and it wasn’t a good one. Despite playing well for most of the 2012 playoffs with Oklahoma City, he did struggle off the bench in the Finals vs. Miami for the majority of that five-game series. Then, in his first two postseason series with the Rockets, Harden shot below 40% from the field in six-game losses to Oklahoma City in 2013 and Portland in 2014. The theory became that Harden’s game was too dependent on drawing fouls, which officials are less likely to call in bulk in physical playoff games.
This year, though? Harden has blown that narrative to smithereens. Despite playing tough defenses like the Warriors and Clippers, Harden is actually scoring more points (28.0 to 27.4) and dishing out more assists (7.7 to 7.0) than in his MVP-worthy regular season, all while shooting higher clips from the field (44.9 percent to 44.0 percent) and from behind the three-point arc (39.4 percent to 37.5 percent). Against the Warriors in the Western Conference Finals, Harden’s per-game numbers (32 points on 50.6 percent shooting and 48 percent three-point shooting) are just silly.
In other words, it’s not just that Harden hasn’t faded against tougher playoff defenses this year. He’s actually gotten even better.
BACKS AGAINST THE WALL
Perhaps most impressively, Harden has saved his best for when his Rockets need it most. In Game 5 of the second round against the Clippers, Harden put up a triple-double (26 points, 11 rebounds, 10 assists) while battling flu-like symptoms, helping the Rockets stave off elimination. In Game 7 of that series, he scored a team-high 31 points by going to the foul line 18 times, repeatedly staying aggressive and sacrificing his body to help push the Rockets through.
The Houston comebacks aren’t all Harden, though. They wouldn’t be playing today if Corey Brewer and Josh Smith hadn’t combined for an astounding 29 points in the fourth quarter of Game 6 in Los Angeles. There’s also the matter of big man Dwight Howard, who leads the Western Conference Finals with 14 rebounds per game while shooting over 60 percent from the field, all while dealing with a painful knee injury suffered in the first quarter of Game 1.
In fact, the comebacks against elimination are becoming so frequent that each game has seemed to develop its own place in Houston sports lore. Game 5 against the Clippers was The Harden Flu Game. Game 6 was The Josh Smith Game. Game 7 was, well, Game 7.
And Monday night? Let’s call that The Flood Game. With historic storms pummeling the Houston area during Game 4, Toyota Center officials advised fans to stay in their seats following the game until the roads home were passable. Some did so until Tuesday morning, sheltering-in-place at Toyota Center overnight for more than 12 consecutive hours.
They weren’t alone, though. After doing his usual postgame media duty, Howard returned to the court to keep the fans company, doing so until at least 2 a.m.
“Sleepy … crazy … but fine,” Howard told reporters. “I’m enjoying myself with the fans.”
WARRIORS STILL IN CONTROL
In that Clippers’ series, the Rockets became just the ninth team in league history to overcome a 3-1 deficit to advance. So could they make even more history in this round by becoming the first NBA team ever to win a series after trailing 3-0?
They’d like to, but it’s highly unlikely.
The reality remains that the 2014-15 Warriors are simply a better team. After all, it’s not as if the Rockets made significant defensive strides in Game 4. The Warriors still scored 115 points, and the aging duo of Jason Terry and Pablo Prigioni at point guard (in the absence of the injured Pat Beverley) still had few answers for Stephen Curry. The Rockets won mostly because they were scorching hot from the perimeter, led by Harden and a 53-percent mark as a team from behind the arc.
It’s hard to imagine those percentages holding up for three more games. At some point, perhaps as soon as Wednesday’s Game 5 in Oakland, the Warriors should advance to their first NBA Finals in 40 years. To have any realistic shot in this series against a superior team, Houston needed to find ways to close out tight games, and they let two golden opportunities slip past in Game 1 and Game 2.
But if you’re Houston, it’s hard to feel too deflated, even if that occurs. Though the seedings made this series appear to be a clash between the two best teams in the West, the reality is that these teams are in very different places in their development. For perspective, the 11-game gap between the Rockets (56-26) and the Warriors (67-15) in the regular season was equivalent to the gap between the Rockets and Oklahoma City (45-37), who finished ninth in the West and didn’t even make the playoffs. That’s how far ahead of the pack these Warriors are.
The easy narrative was to portray these Finals as a showdown between Curry and Harden, the top two MVP candidates for the 2014-15 season. But with the exception of Game 3, there hasn’t been much of a contrast. Both have been great, and you could actually argue that Harden was superior by a small margin in Game 1, Game 2 and Game 4.
What has made the difference for the Warriors, relative to the Rockets, is exactly what made them so special throughout the season – superior top-to-bottom depth throughout the roster. Take away the top two from each team (Harden and Howard, Curry and Klay Thompson) and look at the remainder of the rotations. Draymond Green, Harrison Barnes, Andrew Bogut, Shaun Livingston, Andre Igoudala and Leandro Barbosa against Trevor Ariza, Terrence Jones, Terry, Smith, Brewer and Prigioni. It’s no contest. Golden State GM Bob Myers has gone “all in” over the past two-plus years to surround Curry with the league’s deepest supporting cast, and with it, his Warriors could be deserving champions.
While Houston GM Daryl Morey has certainly upgraded his rotation, his “all-in” move is still to come. For all their mental fortitude and Harden’s brilliance, they still likely need a second playmaker alongside Harden to reach Golden State’s level. That’s why Morey went after Chris Bosh last offseason and Goran Dragic at this year’s trade deadline, and why he’ll be aggressive again once the offseason rolls around. His well-chronicled search for the “third-best player on a championship team” remains ongoing.
That said, Houston certainly appears to be the best-positioned team in the West to challenge Golden State in the years ahead. They did defeat the Clippers in these playoffs, and it’s hard to see the Clippers getting any better considering their lack of draft picks and salary-cap flexibility. The Spurs may have finally jumped the shark, given their age. Memphis and Portland seem a half-step behind already, and each also has to worry about their best player (Marc Gasol and LaMarcus Aldridge) entering free agency this summer. Dallas under Mark Cuban is always in the mix, but their best player younger than 30 and under contract is Chandler Parsons. It’s hard to take that seriously.
The Rockets, on the other hand? They’re already the West’s second-best team, and they’re also armed with a warchest of assets to improve even more this summer. They own the No. 18 and No. 32 picks in this June’s NBA Draft. They could have cap space in July, should they choose to go that route. They employ two rookie prospects in rising center Clint Capela and swingman K.J. McDaniels who might be lottery picks if the 2014 NBA Draft were redone. They hold the NBA rights to 27-year-old Spanish star Sergio Llull, one of the top point guards in Europe.
They’re also likely to be popular destination for marquee free agents, especially after their impressive playoff run, and Morey holds numerous young, cheap players to dangle as bait in potential sign-and-trade discussions.
But all of those factors pale in comparison to the importance of Harden. Long-term NBA contenders are built around franchise leaders, like the Spurs with Tim Duncan, the Heat and Cavs with LeBron James, and now the Warriors with Curry.
The 2014-15 Rockets don’t have the supporting cast to make it over that final hump just yet. But in the process, they’ve learned a lot about themselves. A year ago, there were fair questions about whether Harden could legitimately be the top option of a championship team.
But now, after a playoff run at 16 games and counting, those questions appear to be answered. Harden and his Rockets are not backing down to anyone, and that makes them a tough out — both for this series and beyond.
Ben DuBose is a veteran sports reporter who has followed the Houston Rockets and the NBA since Hakeem Olajuwon was Akeem Olajuwon. He writes for both SheridanHoops and ClutchFans, an independent Rockets blog. You can follow him on Twitter.