Houston Rockets Defeat Oklahoma City Thunder Despite Subpar James Harden Game, No Russell Westbrook

James Harden had an off shooting day and Russell Westbrook remained out with a quad injury, yet the Houston Rockets still found a way to defeat the Oklahoma City Thunder 111-98 to take a 2-0 series lead Thursday in their best-of-seven first round playoff series from the Orlando bubble.

Harden did end up with 21 points, nine assists and five rebounds, but missed 11 of his 16 shots from the field and nine of his 11 attempts from three. But Danuel House had 19 points and nine rebounds and Jeff Green had 15 to lead seven Rockets, among the eight that played, scoring in double figures. But Houston didn’t commit a single first half turnover and only seven for the game, none of them by Harden.

The Rockets attempted an NBA playoff record 56 3-pointers, hitting only 19 of them. Eric Gordon missed all 10 of his attempts from deep. But they hit 16 of 18 from the line and played tremendous defense, holding Oklahoma City to just 39 points in the second half.

The game turned after Chris Paul hit a jumper 12 seconds into the 4th quarter. It would be another 5:14 before the Thunder scored again a part of a 14-0 run that put the game out of reach, most of it with Harden on the bench. OKC finished 11-for-32 from three and committed 13 turnovers in what was probably Houston’s best defensive effort of the season.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led all scorers with 31 points and Danilo Gallinari had 17, but Paul had just 14 points and two assists on 6-for-15 shooting and OKC looked completely out of sync in the second half. That’s a credit to a Rockets team not known for their defense getting things done in Game 2 despite Westbrook cheering his team on from the bench in a yellow mask and an Iron Maiden t-shirt and Harden having a poor offensive performance.

But it was Houston that managed to win without shooting well, something that should bode well for the team if it advances to play the Lakers in the second round.