Written by Sam Amick at USAToday.com
The team that prides itself on never taking midrange jumpers is one step closer to the second round of the NBA playoffs because of one.
The team that some might suspect was born out of an Ivy League math class is up 3-1 on the Oklahoma City Thunder because it showed the kind of toughness that can’t be measured on a calculator.
If the Houston Rockets keep this up, they might take this fascinating formula all the way to the Finals. The league’s most interesting team, this bunch that is headed by the resident analytics leader (general manager Daryl Morey), the creative coach who’s in the midst of a renaissance (Mike D’Antoni) and the star who makes it all go (James Harden), won 113-109 in Game 4 on Sunday at Chesapeake Energy Arena. And the Rockets did it in the kind of counter intuitive fashion that served as a reminder of how good they can be.
This effort could not only end the Thunder’s season on Tuesday, but it might give the heavyweights like Golden State and San Antonio a serious push down the line. This is the kind of nuanced development that could convince the masses that the Rockets are for real.
And it wouldn’t have happened if Harden didn’t break protocol at the perfect time.
With 41.8 seconds left and the Thunder trying for the series split heading into Game 5 on Tuesday, Harden buried a stepback jumper from the free throw line over Victor Oladipo that put Houston up five and was the antithesis of Rockets basketball. All season long, the Rockets had made their way to a 55-win campaign by shooting only three-pointers and layups. They played the percentages, breaking the NBA records for three-pointers taken and made while making it abundantly clear at every turn that no midrange shots were allowed.
They pushed this mathematical envelope in unprecedented form, building a roster that was well-equipped to game the system and put together the kind of winner that no one saw coming. And this time, Harden went against their grain to get the job done.
“You get the best shot available, you know?” Harden, who struggled to a 16-point, seven-turnover outing, told USA TODAY Sports about his final shot. “That’s what it was. That’s what was available, so I took it.
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