James Harden made up for a miserable shooting night with a big blocked shot, Russell Westbrook scored 20 points against his former team as the Houston Rockets beat the Oklahoma City Thunder 104-102.
“It was one of those nights offensively so I just wanted to change the game defensively and I think I did that,” Harden said.
In the end, Houston came up with the plays to prevailed to set up a second-round matchup with the Los Angeles Lakers that begins Friday despite Harden, the NBA’s leading scorer, going 4 for 15 from the field.
The frantic final seconds of a game that was tight throughout had Houston take the lead for good at 103-102 when P.J. Tucker scored with 1:25 remaining. After changes of possession, the Thunder got the ball to Lu Dort, who attempted a 3-pointer that Harden blocked with 4.8 seconds left.
Robert Covington made a free throw with 1.4 seconds to go and Harden was whistled for fouling Danilo Gallinari before the ball was inbounded, giving the Thunder one free throw and the ball. But Gallinari missed the free throw and the Thunder turned it over on the last inbounds pass.
Dort scored a career-best 30 points for the Thunder, Chris Paul, swapped for Westbrook over the summer, had 19 points, 12 assists and 11 rebounds as he made history as the oldest player with a triple double in a Game 7.
The Rockets have a quick turn around as they face the Lakers on Friday
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