Welcome to the Basketball Hangover. NBA Playoff Basketball is going on!
James Harden made a clutch defensive play to help the Rockets win a Game 7.
(PHOTO CREDIT: Mark J. Terrill/AP.)
Like I said previously, anything goes in a Game 7.
It’s always a struggle for both teams. An uphill climb. Maybe it even feels like a session at the dentist. And the unexpected might happen.
For example, the Thunder’s much-maligned rookie starter, Lu Dort. He was pretty much the second coming of Andre Roberson. Fantastic defensive player. But players can leave him alone when it’s time for him to shoot. Well, Dort made them pay. Coming into Game 7, he was below the Mendoza Line for three (.184). But in this game, he went 6 for 12 from behind the arc.
And James Harden REALLY struggled. I’m sure he was getting a ton of slander from social media. But he would have difficulty putting a coin into the ocean. James went 4 for 15 from the field.
Chris Paul said previously that he was built for these games. For much of Game 7, he was that dude. He got a triple-double (19-11-12) and, at 35, became the oldest player to achieve that feat in a Game 7.
And it was madness in the last 7 minutes. The game was tied at 96. Robert Covington, who had been playing fantastic defense, made an all-important three. Then the game went scoreless for two minutes of game time before Dort shockingly made a three to tie the game. It was quiet once again before Harden broke free for a lay-up for a rare field goal and a Rockets lead. More messy basketball before the cool Shai Gilgeous-Alexander made a three to take back the lead for the Thunder under two minutes. But it wasn’t long before P.J. Tucker made a floater.
103-102, Houston, with 1:25 left.
I suppose you can picture in your mind more basketball with no buckets made and the Benny Hill theme in the background. And then the Thunder had possession in the closing seconds. It took a while to materialize but…
…James Harden BLOCKED Lu Dort’s three-point attempt. Then Dort tried to throw the ball off Harden but the Rocket guard jumped over the ball, completely missing him. It was Rockets ball with 2.7 seconds left. However, Covington split the free throws at the other end, giving the Thunder one last try with 1.2 seconds left.
Harden ended up fouling Danilo Gallinari before the inbounds. Danilo missed the foul shot.
Gilgeous-Alexander inbounded it one more time. Nothing. He passed to Steven Adams but it was broken up by the Rockets. Ballgame. Houston advances.
Chris Paul, the one built for this, never got the ball in the final possession.
Lu Dort, who scored 30 points in a Game 7, was not on the court for the final possession.
James Harden, who struggled on offense and gets made fun of for defense, made the biggest defensive play by blocking somebody who was known for defense and was having the best offensive night of his young career, even though he really was NOT known for offense. My brain hurts.
And man, I didn’t even mention Russell Westbrook, who went for 20 points and 9 boards but was quiet because he only turned the ball over twice.
Like I said, anything goes on a Game 7. And legacies can be defined in one play.
Have fun with the Lakers, Rockets!
Bullet Passes
Well, that was not the only wacky ending we had on Wednesday. The Miami Heat took a 2-0 lead against the vaunted Milwaukee Bucks. And the last 20 seconds of that game was something.
The Heat had a 113-107 lead. Giannis Antetokounmpo got a concession dunk to cut the deficit to four. And then in the ensuing possession, Jimmy Butler got trapped and threw the ball away to Brook Lopez. Lopez made a tough close shot over Goran Dragic to make it a two-point game. Then the Bucks had to foul. Butler, unfortunately, split his free throws with 7.7 seconds left.
Then Khris Middleton got fouled by Dragic behind the arc. You decide if this was a foul:
whatever pic.twitter.com/9cKORH1v0Q
— CJ Fogler #BlackLivesMatter (@cjzero) September 3, 2020
Middleton had no landing space, the referees said. He would make all three foul shots to tie the game.
Butler, of course, would get the ball in the last possession. And look how that turned out:
Jimmy Butler wins Game 2 at the line after a last second foul. WOW. pic.twitter.com/4LfyRqCL3T
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) September 3, 2020
I wouldn’t call that foul but I’m not a referee. Butler’s game-winning free throws at the buzzer without players in the lane would be the third time in playoff history.
This is also the first time since the playoff tree expanded to 16 that the top two seeds in a conference are down 0-2.
The other news of note?
Now this will be something. Poor Jacque Vaughn didn’t get to have a real chance to coach the Nets for a full season, even though he went 6-2 in the bubble before getting swept out by the Raptors.
But the coaching pick more or less comes down to the stars Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving. Steve Nash and Durant had a relationship going back to their days in Golden State. I can’t wait to see what Nash does as a coach. I’m sure we’ll see a lot of Mike D’Antoni influence here (which also influenced Steve Kerr).
NBA Playoff Scoreboard
Game 2: #1 MIL 114 vs #4 MIA 116 (MIA leads series, 2-0)
Game 7: #4 HOU 104 vs #5 OKC 102 (HOU wins series, 4-3)
Watch This Play
Let’s look at that Harden defensive play. The best defensive play of his career, I feel.
HARDEN STRAPS WITH THE GAME ON THE LINE pic.twitter.com/hJpINlvapk
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) September 3, 2020
We’ve had crazy endings in playoff basketball as of late. More of those, please!
Take care, everyone.
Rey-Rey is on Twitter at @TheNoLookPass.
TNLP on FaceBook.