This offensive drought was atypical of Harden, who posted 43 points in Game 3 of the series.
Harden's sensationalism continued into the postseason, where he led the Rockets past his MVP competitor Russell Westbrook and the Oklahoma City Thunder in the first round. And while San Antonio deserves credit for largely staying faithful to its more traditional 2-big lineups involving LaMarcus Aldridge and Pau Gasol in this series, the team's ability to go small - even without Parker or Leonard available - essentially delivered the knockout blow in Game 6. They stuck with this change throughout the series, which slowed the Rockets' offense down to a point. With and without Leonard, the Spurs did a magnificent job of running Houston's shooters off the three-point line, protecting the rim and avoiding fouls against Harden. This idea was bolstered by the fact that Spurs All-Star Kawhi Leonard wasn't going to play due to an ankle injury. One problem. Somebody forgot to tell the Rockets to show up for the most important game of the year as they came in and absolutely stunk up the place to the tune of a 114-75 beat-down. "Everything falls on my shoulders". Last season, when the Warriors won 73 regular season games and the Spurs won 67 it seemed that destiny would square off the dynasty of old with the dynasty of new.
"It was right across the board, so we'll figure that out and get better this summer and then come back and do it again".
The Rockets were also missing a key player in reserve centre Nene Hilario, who suffered a torn adductor in Game Four. He only made two shots all game, both of which were threes. He closed the first half with as many points as turnovers (five each), and his two field-goal attempts at the intermission were fewer than 15 of the 16 players who participated before the break.
"We're not as good as we looked", Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said, "and they're not the team that people are used to seeing in Houston". His play was truly mystifying.
Venezuela protests death total hits 38 as man, 20, shot in head
Police and soldiers prevented it from reaching the interior ministry, but no clashes or other violence took place during daytime. In Valencia, where the man died, some areas looked like a disaster zone with bars on shop windows bent and windows broken.
After Thursday's game, ESPN's Stephen A. Smith expressed complete befuddlement with Harden's performance, saying, "I think there needs to be an investigation, to be quite honest with you".
All of this is just a odd way for Harden's excellent season to end. James Harden, Houston's MVP candidate, submitted one of his worst games of the season, finishing with 10 points (on 2-of-11 shooting), seven assists and six turnovers. He had fully embraced the switch to point guard and his overall game blossomed to yet another elite level under coach Mike D'Antoni.
"He's had a historic year", Rockets guard Lou Williams said.
Now that may all be lost. So I was willing to take some contested shots tonight and got into my rhythm early. Popovich is the best to ever do it.
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