No. 1: Harden gives his MVP candidacy another boost — The lot of LeBron James, Russell Westbrook, Kawhi Leonard and James Harden and their shot at the 2016-17 Kia MVP Award is shifting by the day. That’s how close this season’s competition for the trophy has been and last night, Harden reminded voters why he’s high in the mix with his performance in the Houston Rockets’ win vs. Denver. Calvin Watkins of ESPN.com has more:
Harden was brilliant again Monday night, scoring 39 points, grabbing seven rebounds and dishing 11 assists in a 125-124 victory over the Denver Nuggets.
With the game on the line, Harden exalted his 6-foot-5 frame to make two major plays, one on offense and one on defense.
Denver held a one-point lead in the closing seconds when Jameer Nelson shot an air ball from 21 feet away. Harden was there to catch the ball under the basket. Then he looked up court and took off.
“For sure that was the fastest he’s ever moved,” Trevor Ariza said.
Nobody stopped Harden. Nelson did get back, but Nene Hilario shielded him from trying to prevent Harden from jumping toward the rim.
Harden scored, untouched, uncontested, uneverything, to give the Rockets a one-point lead with 2.4 seconds left.
“I was running so fast, I feel like I was faster than [John Wall],” Harden said. “I felt like Usain Bolt.”
After a timeout, Nikola Jokic threw a pass at the rim toward Mason Plumlee. Harden was in front of Plumlee and knocked the ball away at the buzzer to close the game. That doesn’t mean Harden is on the verge of being on the all-NBA defensive team, but it was a solid defensive play that sealed the victory.
“I don’t know how many examples you need there,” Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni said regarding the MVP award and Harden. “He gives you an example every night. If something’s better out there, I’ve never seen it and I’ve been around. I’m old and I’ve been around and never seen anything better.”
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Harden’s numbers are unreal. He has produced 56 double-doubles, 19 triple-doubles and became the only player in league history to score at least 50 points, grab 15 rebounds and have 15 assists in a game. He’s also one of just four players to score 40-plus points while getting a triple-double in consecutive games. Over the past three games, Harden is averaging 40 points and shooting 49.3 percent from the field.
The other MVP candidates have numbers that wow you, too. But for player like Lou Williams, who arrived in a late February trade from the Lakers, there’s no one playing like Harden.
“It’s definitely like ‘damn,'” Williams said of Harden. “It’s especially like ‘damn’ when I’m on the [sideline]. Just being a competitor and being burned by him, being that type of player. You see it every day to put this team on his back, night in and night out on the offensive end and go out and do the things that he’s doing is huge.”
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The debate about rest will linger for the rest of the regular season and likely into the summer. Harden doesn’t mind playing, calling himself a “hooper” earlier in the day.
Denver coach Michael Malone said Harden was old-school for doing it.
“You gotta respect the hell out of that,” Malone said before the game. “Here’s a guy, that they have the No. 3 seed fairly firmly established but he’s a competitor. He’s an old-school player, he wants to play, he loves to play and you have a lot of respect for guys like that.”
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No. 2: Warriors complete dominating sweep of Thunder — Not since May 24, 2016, had the Oklahoma City Thunder logged a win against the Golden State Warriors. That victory came in Game 4 of the Western Conference finals and gave OKC a 3-1 series lead. Since then, so much has changed, starting with Kevin Durant joining the Warriors in free agency last summer. The Thunder had one last shot to get a win against Golden State this season last night, but fell 111-95. Anthony Slater of The Mercury News has more on Golden State’s continued success against OKC:
Emotions boiled over between the Warriors and Thunder again on Monday night in Oklahoma City, leading to a shoving scrum, four technicals and a lengthy review. The sequence happened with 5.2 seconds left in the first half, giving the steaming sides plenty of time to simmer down in their respective locker rooms.
But before then, the Warriors had one more cold-blooded dagger to shove into the hearts of Thunder fans. After the scuffle, referees set up a jump-ball on OKC’s side of the court. Andre Iguodala tipped it toward the OKC bench, 80 feet from the Warriors hoop, where Klay Thompson chased it down with four seconds left and heaved a lob pass over his shoulder.
It landed in the hands of Stephen Curry, who turned and rainbow’d through a buzzer-beating 3, capping a dominant half (59-39) that highlighted a dominant win (111-95 final) to close out a dominant 4-0 season sweep of the Thunder.
“I used to play quarterback,” Klay Thompson said of the shot. “So don’t underestimate my arm.”
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“It was kind of funny for that to happen right after the scuffle,” Green said. “Hit a 3, go up 20, pretty good moment.”
That’s now seven straight wins for the Warriors over the Thunder, sandwiched by an earth-rattling theft of their rival’s biggest superstar. This one-sided NBA drama is bordering on cruel and unusual punishment.
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But Durant was forced to miss Monday night’s game while rehabbing a left knee injury. Without a 40-point repercussion to worry about, the crowd, complete with a cupcake mascot hobbling around on a crutch, was still able to boo him as he emerged from the tunnel in street clothes to cheer on his new team from the bench.
The Thunder entered playing well, having won five straight. Could they get the slightest bit of small satisfaction over their bullying rivals? Nope.
The Warriors took over the game in the first quarter. Stephen Curry hit two 3s in the first few minutes and then uncorked his first dunk of the season, celebrated wildly by Durant and the Warrior bench.
Then the Golden State defense clamped down, forcing the Thunder into below 40 percent shooting much of the game while beating them 46-40 in rebounds (one of the supposed few remaining OKC advantages).
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As for the scuffle — which started when Curry and Christon were jostling for jump-ball position and escalated when Westbrook entered the fray to shove Curry, eventually ending in technicals for all three and a fourth for Draymond Green — all parties played it off postgame.
“Once I see something going down with my teammate, I’m hoping in,” Westbrook said.
“Much ado about nothing,” Curry said.
“I didn’t do anything,” Green said. “But I knew it. If I’m anywhere in the area, (a technical) is expected.”
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No. 3: Anthony taking another look at his career — After last night’s road loss to the LA Clippers, the New York Knicks are a mere 1 1/2 games ahead of the Orlando Magic for the Eastern Conference’s second-worst record. That means another playoff-less season is all but assured for the Knicks and their star, Carmelo Anthony. As he watches contemporaries and good friends like Chris Paul and LeBron James ready for a postseason run, Anthony is looking at all angles of his career as 2016-17 ends. Al Iannazzone of Newsday has more:
The Knicks already have locked up a fourth straight losing season and are close to being eliminated from playoff contention for the fourth consecutive year. They dropped seven games out of the Eastern Conference’s last playoff spot with Monday night’s 114-105 loss to the Clippers at Staples Center.
After making the postseason his first 10 years in the league, Anthony, 32, is still chasing playoff success and wonders if it will happen in a Knicks uniform.
“Honestly, I think about it a lot,” he said before scoring 16 points in the opener of a four-game trip. “I try to put everything into perspective. I think about it. I think about [New York], I think postseason, I think about my teammates. I just think about everything.
“It’s not just one specific thing that I think about. I try to hear other people’s advice, other people’s take on it. But at the end of the day, it’s on me.”
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Anthony believed this season would be different after team president Phil Jackson brought in proven veterans Derrick Rose, Joakim Noah, Courtney Lee and Brandon Jennings. But with the Knicks falling into a familiar place, Anthony gave hints Monday that he might be willing to waive his no-trade clause to get into a winning situation.
His closest friends in the NBA are Paul, LeBron James and Dwyane Wade. James and Wade have won championships and Paul has the Clippers heading to the playoffs again. It bothers Anthony that he’s no longer a playoff fixture.
“It makes you want to think about what’s next or what could be next, just thinking about those situations,” he said. “I always think about the times that I’ve had in the postseason, the games and experiences that I’ve had with teams, players. The way that you’ve got to prepare for that. I think about that all the time.
“The competitor that I am, the person that I am — I want to be there. I don’t have to look at somebody else’s situation and say, ‘Oh, I miss that’ or ‘I want that’ or ‘I need that.’ Like, it is what it is. That’s a part of who I’ve — over my 14 years — I’ve made myself part of that. Pride myself on that, in wanting to be in those situations.”
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Anthony loves the big stage of Madison Square Garden and playing in New York, but he said nothing lasts forever.
“When I was back in Denver, I was like, ‘Man, I’m never leaving here. I want to be that guy that plays on one team for the rest of his career,’ ” said Anthony, who forced a trade from the Nuggets in 2011. “But the way that the game is, the way that the business is, I think it’s highly impossible to accomplish that, and the guys that do accomplish that, you’ve got to take your hat off to them. A lot of things have to fall into place for that to happen.”
When asked specifically about moving to Los Angeles full-time, Anthony said he can’t think about that right now.
“Don’t start,” he said. “I haven’t thought about it. There was an opportunity during the deadline. There was always talk the past couple of seasons with me somehow being connected, whether it was the Clippers or Lakers. I’ve somehow always been connected. At first it was the Lakers and now it’s the Clippers situation.
“So I try not to think about that, especially now when I’m still playing with the New York Knicks.”
.@Carmeloanthony from inside the locker room. #NYKvsLAC #Knicks pic.twitter.com/MrCc1gkDs0
— NEW YORK KNICKS (@nyknicks) March 21, 2017
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No. 4: Allen on outs for 2008 title-team reunion — The star trio of Ray Allen, Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce took the NBA by storm when they all joined up before the 2007-08 season. Their run to the 2008 title was the stuff of NBA storybooks and the “Big Three” kept Boston as a contender for several years. But Allen’s departure as a free agent in 2012 for the rival Miami Heat upset Pierce and Garnett. The point guard on those teams, Rajon Rondo, is organizing a reunion of the ’08 title team, but Allen will not be invited. Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe has more:
And while Allen and Garnett are officially retired and Pierce is playing his last NBA season with the Los Angeles Clippers, the anger over Allen’s decision to sign with the Celtics’ primary competitor for NBA supremacy still runs deep.
It caused so much of a rift that Allen will not be invited to a Rajon Rondo-organized reunion of the 2008 title team expected to be held this summer. Rondo, the fourth All-Star on that team, unapologetically said that Allen was not included.
“We’re going to get back together this summer, and I’m in charge of it,” said Rondo.
Is Allen invited?
“No.”
Allen and Rondo have had well-chronicled differences over the past few years, and they have not come close to settling their issues.
“It is what it is, you are who you are at the end of the day,” Rondo said. “You won’t get me saying nothing about him. He did some great things for us. Turn the page.”
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Allen was considered a traitor by many of his former teammates, including the fiercely intense Garnett and Rondo, both of whom had had issues with James and the Heat in the past.
While the Heat won the NBA Finals in 2013, the Celtics were eliminated in the first round by the New York Knicks and Ainge decided to break up the remaining Big Three by trading Pierce, Garnett, and Terry to Brooklyn, a move that advanced the Celtics’ rebuild exponentially.
When asked if Allen could be reunited with Garnett, Pierce, and himself, Rondo said, “There’s no need for that. We don’t have anything in common. You don’t text people you don’t have things in common with, right? So there’s no point of trying to force the situation or force the relationship. It’s not there.”
Efforts to reach Allen for comment were unsuccesful.
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For Pierce and former Celtics coach Doc Rivers, the rift with Allen is unsettling. As a team, they helped take the Celtics to two NBA Finals and resurrect the franchise over a five-year period.
Pierce was the brash small forward with the masterful midrange game, Allen the smooth-shooting guard who enhanced the offense by stretching the floor, and Garnett the tough-minded defensive leader who brought swagger back to the Celtics.
“The way things happened didn’t sit well with a lot of us,” Pierce said. “I’m over it, pretty much. It’s just a matter of us reaching out. Because we’re always going to have a bond regardless of what’s going on. We’re always going to be linked.
“When they bring the team back here one day, Kevin is going to have to see Ray eventually. They both retired the same year, so they both are going to be in the same Hall of Fame [class].
“But I don’t have no issues with Ray.”
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SOME RANDOM HEADLINES: The NBA’s most underrated player may just reside on the Boston Celtics … Golden State Warriors star Draymond Green will serve as a hotel concierge on Thursday … OKC players continue their viral-video efforts to push teammate Russell Westbrook for MVP … Speaking of the Thunder, their fans were at it again last night in their attempts to troll Kevin Durant … The Indiana Pacers may have rediscovered their mojo after last night’s win against the Utah Jazz … A great look back on the 2006-07 ‘We Believe’ Warriors squad …
