James harden rockets

Ted Berg For The Win Published 8:30 AM EDT Apr 29, 2019 This is the online version of our morning newsletter, The Morning Win. Subscribe to get irreverent and incisive sports stories, delivered to your mailbox every morning. In the final seconds of the first game of the Rockets' second-round playoff matchup with the Warriors, James Harden had a chance to play hero. The star guard and regular season scoring champion could've tied the game with a 3-pointer. Few in the league are as good as Harden at creating space off the dribble, and no one in the NBA hit more 3-pointers this year. With Draymond Green defending him at the top of the arc and 10 seconds left on the clock, Harden secured some room, squared his body to the basket, jumped, released his shot, then swung his legs forward into Green and fell down to the ground in the hopes of drawing a foul. After the game, Harden even complained about the refs for not whistling Green on what looked like an obvious flop, saying, "I just … [Read more...] about Opinion: Rockets’ James Harden needs to stop flopping

Sport by Press Association April 29, 2019, 6:47 am Updated: April 29, 2019, 6:51 am Send us a story Sign up to our Sport newsletter Kevin Durant outplayed James Harden as the Golden State Warriors edged the Houston Rockets 104-100 in their highly-anticipated Western Conference semi-finals opener. The reigning champions are meeting Houston in the play-offs for the fourth time in five years and began this year’s series with a back-and-forth game which went down to the wire. Durant led the way with 35 points, while Stephen Curry added 18 and sealed the victory with a three-pointer with 24 seconds left on the clock. The Rockets had the chance to tie the game just before the buzzer, but Harden missed. The Boston Celtics managed a more emphatic win against the Milwaukee Bucks in the first game of their Eastern Conference semi-final series, recording a 112-90 victory. Boston dominated from the off, building a 15-point lead in the first half which increased to … [Read more...] about Kevin Durant gets the better of James Harden as Golden State beat Houston

Nate Scott For The Win Published 10:46 AM EDT Apr 21, 2019 The Houston Rockets hung on to beat the Utah Jazz on Saturday night 104-101, but the win was almost in spite of James Harden, who had one of his most ignominious performances in a Rockets uniform. Harden started the game 0-15 from the field and finished 3 of 20, needing help from his teammates and a great night at the free throw line (he was 14 of 16 from the stripe) to hang close and eventually win the game. The shooting night was embarrassing, but fans weren't really getting on Harden for having an off shooting night. He's a good player and good players sometimes have off nights. What fans were getting after him about were the flops. MORE COLUMNS: Read more commentary from Nate Scott MORNING WIN NEWSLETTER: Irreverent and incisive recap of daily sports news There was this piece of theater from Game 3, when a light touch in the back in the post sent him sprawling. Then there was this masterpiece from Game 2, during … [Read more...] about NBA Playoffs: James Harden’s flops are why fans are roasting him

Martin Rogers USA TODAY Published 2:04 AM EDT Apr 21, 2019 James Harden has had nights where he only scored 22 points before, but he hasn’t had too many like this one. At the 7:34 mark of the fourth quarter in the Houston Rockets’ 104-101 victory over the Utah Jazz on Saturday night, Harden had not made a single field goal, going 0-for-15. Such slumps happen; they are a part of basketball. You don’t expect them to happen to a player who has been lights out all season while redefining the game. Yet there it was, through miss after inexplicable miss, until Harden finally broke his drought with a powerful dunk. There are a few ways to look at Harden’s strange evening as the Rockets took a 3-0 lead of this first round series in Salt Lake City. One is that having endured such a dip, it is statistically unfathomable that he will do again, at least not any time soon. Another is that Saturday’s shooting go-slow is an indicator that Harden has either been … [Read more...] about NBA playoffs: Rockets win with James Harden at his worst