HOUSTON — The Nuggets have no answers for the Rockets.
For the ninth consecutive game dating back to the 2015-16 season, the Rockets got the best of the Nuggets.
No combination of double-teams or hedges could contain James Harden, who scored 32 points on just 18 shots from the field as the Rockets won, 125-113. When he wasn’t drilling one of his backbreaking 3-pointers (only one of his field goals wasn’t a triple), he was doling out one of his 14 assists to either rim-rolling center Clint Capela or wings P.J. Tucker and Gerald Green.
Those three combined for 73 points and 13 3-pointers. Tucker, who took all of his 11 shots from 3-point range, was almost automatic from the corner, and the win demonstrated, once again, that there’s no good way to handle to Harden. He leads the NBA in scoring and is fourth in assists per game. He’s also the NBA leader in free-throw attempts per game and finished Monday with 15 shots from the line, four more than his season average.
“He’s probably the hardest guy in the NBA to guard, and letap be honest, all the rule changes that are in place always favor the offense, so it makes it even that much harder for our defense,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said. “Thatap no excuse. Itap the same for everybody. I thought Torrey (Craig) tried, Gary (Harris) tried, Malik (Beasley) tried, everybody tried, but he’s an MVP for a reason.”
And as if trying to stop one of the NBA’s preeminent scorers wasn’t enough, the Nuggets found themselves on the wrong end of the whistle, too.
The Rockets took 34 free throws the Nuggets’ 21. That discrepancy was 27-11 at halftime.
“I mean, look, man, you know what it is,” Harris said. “He’s going to get those calls and that’s just how it is. We’ve just got to play through it and figure out how to get it done.”
Though there were numerous physical collisions, wasn’t buying that the Rockets were any more physical than the rest of the league.
“I don’t see them as a physical team at all, to be honest with you,” Millsap said. “They get away with a lot of stuff, a lot of holding and lot of pushing. But that’s OK. It’s preparing us. We’ve got to be stronger. But we play more physical teams than that.”
The Nuggets (26-12) have a foreboding streak hanging over them any time they face the Rockets, but there has been progress. When Houston won, 109-99, in Denver earlier this season, it was a third-quarter lapse that made the difference. The rest of the game was even.
Monday, that lapse came late in the second quarter when Harden scored 14 points over the final 3:56, and the Nuggets could never recover.
“Last year, every game down here was a blowout from the first quarter on, and that wasn’t the case tonight,” Malone said. “It was a ballgame, like I said, seven-point game going into the fourth quarter. I don’t buy into that notion (that they’re a bad matchup). I know that we can compete with this team.”
Harris injured?
Harris has been back for only four games since a hip injury sidelined him for almost all of December. He didn’t return after he said his hamstring tightened up late in the third quarter.
“I grabbed him quickly after, he says he’s okay,” Malone said. “There definitely is a little bit of concern in terms of his hamstring and making sure (we’re) not putting him at risk by putting him back in the game.”
Harris wasn’t sure about his status for Tuesday night in Miami.
“We’ll figure it out,” he said.
