In good hands at closing time
With less than one minute remaining in his 433rd game with the Rockets, James Harden broke new ground. Never before had he done what he did late in the Rockets’ 99-90 victory over the Miami Heat on Monday. Never before had he been tempted.
With the game on the line and the Rockets owning a shaky three-point lead, Harden directed someone else to take what would be the slam-thedoor shot.
He not only sent Chris Paul to the low blocks, he repeatedly insisted to convince Paul he really meant it.
“I don’t think he’s ever had that as well,” Harden said of playing with a comparable closer. “When he was dribbling up … I was like, ‘Give me the ball, go to your sweet spot.’ ‘Huh.’ ‘Give me the ball!’ ‘Uh, OK.’
“That’s where he went,
right to the sweet spot. (He) got the ball without a dribble and just jab, jab, shot.” Ballgame. For all the questions to begin the season about how Paul and Harden would mesh, doubts that seemed extinguished when they won their first 14 games playing together, Monday’s final minutes seemed to speak to a question that had not been answered in the routs.
It is easier to take turns running the offense along the way. The test always would be who would take the last shot or make the final decision at closing time. The answer, they in-
sisted, was they don’t care.
“I think it’s huge,” Paul said. “It shows the time we’ve been together in the gym, knowing where the other really likes the ball. Everybody always sees me as a guard, dribbling and passing. But James said, ‘Go to your sweet spot, go to your sweet spot.’ It just shows how much time we spent together this summer and how much we paid attention to one another.”
But winning that way is not just about Paul’s ability to hit a midrange turnaround jumper or even Harden’s determination to ensure Paul got that chance. The Rockets have not played many close games this season. When they were at their best, they strung together a streak of blowouts. But for the third time in the past six games when they were in a “clutch (ahead or behind by five or fewer points in the final five minutes) situation,” they were masterful.
Alternating heroes
The Rockets outscored the Portland Trail Blazers, Golden State Warriors and Heat by 62.6 points per 100 possessions in the final minutes of those three games, with effective and true shooting percentages that were off the charts against two teams — the Warriors and Heat — among the top five in those situations.
The Rockets rank sixth in net rating in “clutch situations,” but those 18 games include just nine involving Harden and Paul. The Rockets were the top team in the NBA in the first three and last three games in those situations, slumping in their late December losing streak.
“Early in the year, we were winning games by 20 so it didn’t happen,” D’Antoni said. “Now, it’s kind of good that we’re close. We’d like to win by more, but we need to go through that, figure it out.”
That has not been complicated.
The Rockets have had Paul or Harden go oneon-one, with Harden hitting the dagger 3-pointer against the Warriors, Paul the clinching 18-footer against the Heat. That makes sense. Harden is by far the NBA’s top scorer on iso plays, averaging 11.5 points per game on 46.6 percent shooting. Paul is tied with LeBron James for second, averaging 6.2 points on iso plays on 46.9 percent shooting. Both have shooting percentages better than any other player in the top 10 in one-onone scoring.
“It’s going to be a little bit of taking turns in terms of who’s got it going, who has the best matchup of the two,” D’Antoni said. “When it gets in the superstars’ hands, they have to make the play. They have to figure out what’s our best advantage going down the stretch. You got the best iso players that’s ever been in the NBA. We do better iso basketball than has ever been done. That’s what we do.”
One-on-one chances
That fits the time and the strengths of the Rockets around Paul and Harden. In an era with so many teams switching defensively rather than risk leaving a 3-point shooter open, there are more opportunities to go one-onone, even late in games.
“There’s so many games, you’re going to get (some) up 20 or a tie game going down the stretch,” Harden said. “We know it’s not going to be blowouts in the playoffs. You have to find ways to win down the stretch. The more times we’re in those situations … we have to find ways to attack, whether it’s me and Chris creating opportunities or knocking down shots ourselves. We just have to figure out when we got in those situations the best shot available.
“He’s so great at creating separation and getting his shot — no matter how small he is.”
Told Harden described him that way, Paul shot back, “James can’t guard me down there, so he can call me whatever he wants to.”
As long as others can’t stop them, the Rockets believe they can thrive as much with their stars handling closing time as they did when they were watching the ends of routs from the bench.