Harden gets some help harnessing Thunder
HOUSTON — Although James Harden is Houston’s undisputed star, he can’t top Russell Westbrook entirely on his own.
As is so often the case, Patrick Beverley was there for support on Sunday night.
Harden scored 37 points to outshine Westbrook as the Rockets pulled away in the third quarter and coasted to a 118-87 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 1 of their Western Conference quarterfinal.
Harden had nine assists and seven rebounds, and Beverley, who had the unenviable task of guarding Westbrook, had a playoff career-best 21 points along with 10 rebounds.
Beverley’s performance was nothing new to Harden, who has had a front-row seat to his work for years.
“That’s the reason we’re in the position we’re in,” Harden said. “He brings it every game. Whether his shot is falling or not, he brings that intensity, that resolve. He was just Pat tonight.”
The best-of-seven series continues on Wednesday night in Houston.
The third-seeded Rockets were up by 20 when Harden came off the bench with about seven minutes remaining.
He went right to work — making two 3-pointers to power a 10-0 run and push the lead to 110-80 with 4 1/2 minutes left.
Harden, who along with Westbrook is a frontrunner for MVP, returned to the bench, and both teams soon went to substitutes.
Westbrook had 22 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists, but made just 6 of 23 shots and had nine turnovers for the sixth-seeded Thunder.
“We’ve got to do a better job, starting with myself, of taking care of the basketball and making some shots,” Westbrook said.
Beverley refused to take credit for slowing down the OKC star.
“It was a team effort in just trying to show him a lot of bodies,” he said.
“He’s one of the most explosive guards in this league, so we were just trying to make it tough on him.”
The Thunder trailed by 15 entering the fourth quarter, and six straight points by the Rockets extended the lead to 100-78 with about 7 1/2 minutes remaining. Lou Williams scored the first four points in that span, and Beverley found Clint Capela on an alley-oop.
The Rockets scored the first five points of the second half to push their lead to 10 early in the third quarter.
After a timeout, Oklahoma City scored the next eight points with 3s from Westbrook and Andre Roberson to cut it to 64-62 with about 8 1/2 minutes left in the quarter.
Houston scored the next nine points, capped by consecutive 3-pointers by Beverley to make it 73-64 midway through the period.
Beverley went to the bench soon after that to a huge ovation and a high five from Houston Texans star JJ Watt, who watched the game from a courtside seat.
Thunder coach Billy Donovan raved about Beverley.
“He played a very, very good game,” Donovan said.
“I thought he impacted the game way, way more with his energy, his effort, his hustle, his loose balls, his offensive rebounding, keeping balls alive. That’s where he really did a great job.”