The Houston Rockets played the Oklahoma City Thunder tough all night in a road effort that any coach would be proud of Wednesday night, even when the Thunder surged to a 15-point lead in the fourth quarter.
The catalyst for the Rockets' comeback was former Thunder sixth man James Harden, who night after night proves his value in a leading role. Harden scored 36 points in Houston's valiant effort, hitting 9-of-24 shots from the field and converting 17-of-20 free throws into points.
Despite their hard work, the Rockets were undone by poor shooting from beyond the arc. Oklahoma City's harassing perimeter defense caused the Rockets to shoot a paltry 28.6 percent on 3-pointers; none of the Rockets stars did well from deep. Harden was 1-of-7 and Chandler Parsons and Carlos Delfino were each 3-of-10.
Rockets head coach Kevin McHale also made a creative adjustment to the starting lineup that helped Houston remain competitive for the entirety of the game; he inserted rookie guard Patrick Beverley into the starting five for the first time in his NBA career. Beverley responded with 16 points, 12 rebounds and six assists. He also ticked off Russell Westbrook by running into him as he called for a timeout, nearly injuring Westbrook's knee.
The Thunder were not in tip-top form for Game 2 of this seven-game series, but the scoring prowess of Kevin Durant and Westbrook carried the team again, even if it was inefficient this time. Durant scored 29 points on 10-of-26 shooting, while Westbrook matched the 29 points on 10-of-25 shooting.
The win was gritty because the Western conference favorites were far from their best. They got huge blocked shots by power forward Serge Ibaka, and quality minutes in the first half from backup point guard Reggie Jackson when Westbrook had foul trouble in the first quarter.
"We all stuck together," Westbrook said. "They made a run when we weren't able to make shots, but I thought everybody had a big role toward the end of the game and we came up with the win."
Despite being down 2-0, Harden said the Rockets are not quitting. "We were down 15, we could have just given up the game and said, 'Let's go to Game 3,' but we fought back and took the lead," Harden said. "So, we definitely have some confidence going into Game 3 and going back home."
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