Harden Blasts Off with 37 Points in Rockets' Game One Win Against OKC

Russell Westbrook didn't play Game One. Chris Paul almost finished with a triple-double. The Thunder almost came back from a 21-point hole in the fourth quarter. Still, it was the Houston Rockets who came out victorious, taking a 123-108 win to open the best-of-seven first-round series in the 2020 National Basketball Association (NBA) playoffs. Incidentally, this is the series that Aaron Atayde and Jinno Rufino discussed in last night's pilot episode of "Jump Thru Hoops" which was brought to you by pinoyliga.com

Jinno Rufino said that James Harden needed to play his best offensive game for the Rockets to beat the size disadvantage that Houston currently faces against Steven Adams and the rest of the Oklahoma City's big men and that's exactly what he did in the series opener today. Harden erupted with 37 points on 13 for 22 field goal shooting including six for 13 from teh three-point line. The Beard also led the Rockets with 11 rebounds. Jeff Green came off the bench and provided the additional firepower with 22 points while playing as a point guard at times. Eric Gordon had 21 points while Ben McLemore added 14 points. PJ Tucker was the other starter of Coach Mike D' Antoni who scored in double figures with 11. 

Danilo Gallinari scored a team-leading 29 points while CP3 finished with 20 points, 10 rebounds, nine assists, and two steals and made two straight threes in the fourth quarter that kept OKC within striking distance. Adams had another double-double of 17 points and 12 rebounds. While the Oklahoma City Thunder had a 46-36 rebounding edge, they couldn't stop the Rockets' offense who scored 40 and 36 points in the second and third quarters respectively and that gave the Rockets that big lead that was too overwhelming for OKC to come back from. Houston shot 48% from the field including 38% shooting from rainbow country. The Rockets also held a 13-2 advantage in fastbreak points as well as 44-38 lead in points scored in the shaded area and this alone is big for a team that has been playing small ball.

The only good news for OKC is this: this is a seven-game series and while Russell Westbrook is still a big question mark for Game Two, we can expect OKC to bounce back and try to avoid being down 0-2.

Photo is from CBS Sports