Nene, James Harden hit clutch shots late as Houston Rockets win Game 4
OKLAHOMA CITY — The team that prides itself on never taking mid-range jumpers is one step closer to the second round of the NBA playoffs because of one.
With 41.8 seconds left and the Oklahoma City Thunder so close to evening this first-round faceoff against Houston, James Harden buried a step-back jumper from the free-throw line over Victor Oladipo that was the antithesis of Rockets basketball. Houston held on from there, taking Game 4 on Sunday at Chesapeake Energy Arena, 113-109, and thereby seizing a 3-1 series lead.
All season long, the Rockets had made their way to a 55-win campaign by shooting only three-pointers and layups. They pushed this mathematical envelope more than any team had before, building a roster that was well-equipped to work the numbers and put together the kind of winner that no one saw coming. Yet this time, Harden went against their grain to get the job done.
His last shot was surely enough to erase the memory of what was his first bad game of these playoffs, a 16-point outing in which he missed 11 of 16 shots and had nearly as many turnovers (seven) as he did assists (eight).
After nearly 44 minutes of top-tier hoops entertainment, with the Thunder leading 58-54 at halftime and 77-73 through three quarters, it became a game of gimmicks down the stretch. D’Antoni went to the hack-a-Shaq strategy at the 4:11 mark, ordering fouls on Roberson (who shot 42.3% from the line this season) on four consecutive possessions. He missed seven of eight attempts in that span and finished 2-of-12 from the charity stripe in the game.
It took a three-point play from Rockets big man Nene with 11 seconds left, and two free throws from Rockets guard Eric Gordon with six seconds remaining, to put the game away. When the buzzer sounded, Rockets guard Patrick Beverley — who on Sunday was fined $25,000 for his exchange with a Thunder fan after Game 3 — shouted “(Expletive) out of here!” three times to the Oklahoma City crowd while celebrating at midcourt.
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The 34-year-old Nene finished with 28 points off the bench, while Gordon and Lou Williams had 18 points apiece. Thunder star and fellow MVP candidate Russell Westbrook had 35 points (10 of 28 shooting), 14 rebounds and 14 assists, but he missed a three-pointer with eight seconds left that would have cut the lead to one and then turned the ball over on the Thunder’s final possession.
Oklahoma City used a familiar formula to earn a 58-54 edge at halftime: heavy doses of Westbrook (17 points, 10 rebounds, and 10 assists) and just enough from the rest of the roster to make it work. Thunder center Steven Adams was the unexpected contributor, as he hit all six of his shots in the first half after hitting just seven shots combined in the first three games (he finished with 18 points and seven rebounds).
Yet while Westbrook was making more history, joining Wilt Chamberlain (1967) as the only players to post three consecutive triple-doubles in the postseason, Harden (six points on two of nine shooting, three assists) was having a hard time shaking free from Roberson. After doing such a masterful job against Harden in the regular season, when he averaged just 20.5 points (34.3% shooting overall, 22.5% from three-point range) in four meetings, Roberson had struggled to handle Harden’s best in the first three games (he averaged 38.6 points, 7.6 assists and 5.6 rebounds).
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