Harden’s 46 Lifts Rockets From 21 Point Deficit, 119-105 Victory Over Blazers

Portland Trailblazers’ shooting guard C.J. McCollum had just splashed home a three pointer to give his team a commanding 72-51 lead just two and a half minutes into the third quarter.

It was another disastrous night for Houston, who seem to be in a never ending downward spiral, whether its on court chemistry, James Harden reportedly trying to get Dwight Howard traded and his former coach fired, or the fact that they had recently been knocked out of the 8 seed for the Western Conference after their loss to Utah Tuesday night.

Then all of the sudden the Rockets began to slowly chip away at Portland’s lead:  Harden and Josh Smith have back-to-back scores to make it 16, Jason Terry hits two three pointers, down to 10, then Harden hits his own pair of threes to make it a five point game before Ed Davis responds with a dunk in the closing seconds of  the third quarter ends to give Portland a 93-86 lead.

Led by Harden’s 15 points in the third, the momentum had completely swung in Houston’s favor.  The Rockets defense held Portland scoreless in the first three minutes of the final quarter and to just 12 points overall in the fourth.  Harden made a layup to tie the game at 95, then followed that up with an assist to Howard to give Houston the lead for good with seven minutes remaining.

Interim coach J.B. Bickerstaff previously called his team, “broken” and “fragmented” in their last visit to the Rose Garden, but couldn’t have been more different after their huge win got them back in the playoff picture.

“It was an awesome game. To be down in the position we were in, having been down against this team the last two times we’ve played them, and not give in speaks volumes for this team,” Bickerstaff said. “It was a hell of a win.”

Harden finished with 46 points (34 in the second half) on 16-26 shooting (4-9 3pt) and also added 8 assists, 5 rebounds, and 2 steals. Howard shot an efficient 8-10 from the field, but an abysmal 3-12 from the charity stripe to finish with 19 points, 13 rebounds, and 2 blocks.  Houston also got strong contributions from role players, Patrick Beverly (14 points), Corey Brewer (10), and Jason Terry (11).

Portland tried to use the Hack-a-Shaq strategy on Howard, but were unable to convert on his misses, he shot just 1-6 from the line in the quarter.  As a team, the Trailblazers only shot 5-20 from the floor in fourth and were outscored 33-12. The high-scoring duo of Lillard and McCollum struggled to find their shot going a combined 4-15 in the quarter, and just 15-39 for the game (5-17 3pt). The Blazers’ backcourt did have solid point contributions, Lillard finished with 23, McCollum with 20, but Portland had no answers for Houston down the stretch.

“It was frustrating, just because we played so well to start the game,” Lillard said. “Even in that third quarter we came out strong. I think we just got a little comfortable. Sometimes when you play so well, you forget how hard what you’re doing actually is.”

Both teams tip off their next games tomorrow night at 8. Houston (29-29) will look to use the momentum from this win as they host division and in-state rival San Antonio (49-9).  Portland (30-28) will look to shake off this disappointing loss and recapture the momentum of their six game winning streak that was snapped. They travel to the Windy City to take on the Bulls (30-26).