The Houston Rockets star guard looked plodding and disinterested during his team's blowout loss to the San Antonio Spurs, recording just 10 points and turning the ball over 6 times. Houston Rockets series began, you had told me that the Spurs would be without Tony Parker and Kawhi Leonard heading into a road Game 6, and that the competitive portion of the game would be over by halftime, I wouldn't have been surprised.
Rockets MVP candidate James Harden only scored 10 points on 2-of-11 shooting with six turnovers before fouling out.
Harden almost averaged a triple-double during the regular season, posting 29.1 points, 11.2 assists and 8.1 rebounds per game. According to SportVU, the Spurs moved at an average of 3.94 miles per hour on defense in Game 6, 10 percent faster than they did in Game 5.
Game 6 highlighted something that has been clear for a while now: The Spurs are the great chameleon of pro sports and have shown themselves to be capable of navigating just about any scenario thrown their way.
The Spurs were up by 19 by halftime in a game that was over quickly, and didn't let up to reach the Western Conference finals for the first time since winning the title in 2014. So did Mike D'Antoni, in a terrific comeback effort to the National Basketball Association, that ended in yet another playoff disappointment when facing Gregg Popovich. Then Rockets general manager Daryl Morey and D'Antoni briefly spoke with Harden and made a decision to "give him some space".
Draymond Green Calls Out Kelly Olynyk for Being a 'Dirty Player'
Up by 21 points, Kelly Oubre Jr . still felt the need to make one of the worst decisions he could have. Olynyk was involved in an altercation with Kelly Oubre in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference semifinals.
Harden took responsibility for the loss after the game, saying the Rockets never able to establish a rhythm. And now, Harden's MVP-caliber season is over, leaving him with only questions that can't be answered as he heads into the offseason.
"It's tough. Especially the way we lost at home.it happened".
"We're just going to enjoy this one right now until midnight, at least", Danny Green said. It wasn't one guy scoring 40 or anything like that. D'Antoni is 0-5 in playoff series against the Spurs, with Popovich eliminating his Suns teams in 2005, 2007, 2008 and the Lakers in 2013 before this season's loss. "They murdered us that in first game with rebounds, but that was the first game of the season". "But to me it's a joke to get on him, because we're not where we are (without Harden). We need to add layers to the offense where it takes some of the load off of James". But even bringing it to Houston for the first time since Hakeem Olajuwon won it in 1994 is unlikely remove that bad taste of how the season ended.
"You've got to take it for what it is", Harden said.
After such an electrifying season for the Houston Rockets, it's understandably soul-crushing to see things end so catastrophically.
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