James Harden struggles in Game 3 loss to Warriors
The Houston Rockets got smoked at home by the Golden State Warriors last night. Here’s the Houston Chronicle reporting:
|
Harden and the Rockets had their first off night of the Western Conference Finals on Saturday night. Instead of having a chance to be their hero, Harden was on the bench for the entire fourth quarter watching his team fall to the Warriors 115-80 and fall to 0-3 in the series.
“They outworked us,” Harden said. “They played a lot better than us tonight. They played downhill all night and we never recovered.”
Harden was stellar in Games 1 and 2 in Oakland, averaging 33 points, shooting .585 from the field. He also averaged 10.5 rebounds, nine assists and 3.5 steals in the first two games.
On Saturday in Game 3, Harden had 17 points, shot .187 from the field, dished out three assists and had four rebounds.
After the first two games, guarding Harden was key for the Warriors.
“I mean, it’s hard to stop him,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. “He’s got an incredible pace to his game. He sees angles. He gets into the cracks of the defense and there’s little subtle things you do that he may exploit, he may not. I thought we did a better job taking away some of the angles that he was attacking on us in the first couple games.”
