What’s the saying? Revenge is a dish best served sweet? I don’t have all these sayings down, but revenge was certainly on the menu in Game 5 in Oklahoma, as James Harden chewed up his old team.
Trailing 3 games to 1, Game 5 was a must-win game for Harden and his Rockets. Kevin McHale had to find something in the old trick bag of his as his team was on the brink of elimination – a deciding game in Oklahoma possibly the last thing he wanted.
However, the rowdy Southern crowd might have been the ingredient Harden and the Rockets needed as they fueled a fiery hot Rockets team. Harden’s hand was as hot is his red jersey nailing his first seven three point attempts – many of which came with Serge Ibaka’s imperious arm lingering.
Thunder star Kevin Durant was without teammate Russell Westbrook for a consecutive game, but made up for it with 36 points and 16 trips to the line. However, he didn’t score any points in the final quarter, which will make most media pounce on him as he pulled a “LeBron (circa 2011)”.
Harden and Durant exchanged tremendous plays, carrying each other’s teams, though the Rocket man won the duel with 31 points off of just 16 shots, and of course carrying his team to victory.
''I just tried to go out there and give it all I had,'' said Harden. ''It was a win or go home, so I got some shots to fall and I just tried to not think about it.''
Houston also had good contributions coming from Omer Asik, the big Turk who signed a lucrative deal in the summer delivered big with countless hustle points (count double in the playoffs) and consequentially getting to the line 18 times while scoring 21 while grabbing 11 rebounds.
Guards Francisco Garcia and Reggie Jackson were big for Houston and Oklahoma respectively, with both players lending a hand to their teams with important scorers missing (Lin for Houston and Westbrook for Oklahoma).
The two teams meet in Houston for Game 6 at 9:30 pm EDT for what the Rockets hope propel them into a Game 7. The Thunder however will hope they can send them packing early, and Durant will hope to dish it to them – he knows his backpacks, I’m sure he’ll want to help Houston on its way.
P.S The game ended 107-100, you know, just a small little piece of information. If you even cared about it.
