James Harden After Miami: “I Had to Do, What I Had to Do”

The Houston Rockets defeated the Miami Heat after a superb come back. The hosts were trailing 21 points at their Toyota Center but managed to break the Heat and win 121-118.

James Harden scored 10 of his 58 points during the decisive run of the Rockets in the final period. Miami had a 10-point lead with 6:18 until the end, but hosts posted 14 straight points, to turn things around on the floor.

“I knew I had to do, what I had to do,” said the Beard during the on-court interview after the game, referring to the fact that his team had many players injured and unavailable for this match.

When a reporter asked him in the locker room, what was the key for tonight’s win, Harden didn’t have any doubts.

“Defense,” he said. “We did it defensively, we got after it, we stopped them when we needed to.”

Though his offense wasn’t too bad either, Harden had, as we said, 58 points shooting perfectly from the free throw line and hitting all of his 18 tries. He also added 10 assists, 7 rebounds, and 4 steals, having one of the best games of his life.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fr33ZVw5bqU

Houston’s leader is playing like never before, and this was his 6th game of the season in which he scored 50 or more points. Overall, the Beard posted his 14th 50+point performance in the career, having only four players ahead of him.

The Rockets were down 21 points in the third quarter. With 8:44 until the end of that period, after Josh Richardson’s three-pointer, the guests from Florida went up 82-61, and were riding a huge momentum from the night before. Back then they defeated the Golden State Warriors after Dwyane Wade’s buzzer-beater three.

But slowly, the home team started to rally back and to cut the gap.

“We just kept grinding,” told Mike D’Antoni at the press conference. “I think this is a big win for us, for a lot of reasons… we did it the right way, we got into it defensively, were shorthanded, back-to-back. This is a character win.”

The Heat players were outstanding until the last couple of minutes. They made 15 threes in 28 attempts, had excellent ball movement, and several players who were stepping up offensively when needed. But they too, had problems with the rotation, using only 9 players throughout the whole contest.

Goran Dragic and Kelly Olynyk had team-high 21 points, Winslow added 19 with 7 boards and 8 dimes, while Josh Richardson scored 18. Dwyane Wade delivered 12.

On the other side, besides Harden, Austin Rivers stepped up off the bench and added 17 points, having a very good shooting night. The 26-year old had 7 of 8 from the field, hitting three downtown tries.

Chris Paul and Gary Clark had 14 each.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Ve90RdAV5o

Right now, the Rockets have 37 wins and 25 losses and are fifth in the West, one and a half game behind the Trail Blazers and the Thunder. They are ahead of a huge fight for the home-court advantage in the playoffs.

Meanwhile, Heat is trying to reach that 8th spot in the East and say goodbye from Dwyane Wade with a postseason. At the moment, Miami is 10th with 27 wins and 34 defeats, one step behind the Magic who are in the playoff zone.

After the match, Chris Paul and Wade swapped jerseys, since this was Flash’s last game against the Rockets.

“He had an unbelievable career, and he did it his way, multiple championships, and at that two-guard position, he is definitely up there,” Harden said about Wade.

Up next Houston has a big game coming up, as they visit struggling Boston Celtics, who are trying to save the season here. No doubt, Kyrie and the rest of the boys will try to do everything to win and regain some confidence. The game will be played on Sunday.

Miami hosts Brooklyn Nets on Saturday, in a game which could eaily be a defining one for their playoff hopes.