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HOUSTON – After fighting through a terrible chest cold for the last few days, James Harden finally felt like himself on Sunday night.
”I can finally breathe,” Harden said.
And the Houston Rockets can, too, after his performance helped them rebound from consecutive losses to beat the San Antonio Spurs, 125-104, and tie the Western Conference semifinal at 2-2.
Harden scored 28 points and Eric Gordon added 22 as the Rockets never trailed and used hot 3-point shooting to pull away in the third quarter.
”I think our energy was just up no matter what,” Harden said. ”They went on runs. They cut the deficit down … but no matter, what we just stayed with it.”
Game 5 is Tuesday night in San Antonio.
Jonathon Simmons had 17 points for the Spurs, and Kawhi Leonard and LaMarcus Aldridge added 16 apiece.
Houston made 22 3-pointers in a blowout win in Game 1, but had struggled from long-range in its two losses. The Rockets’ 3-point shooting, a hallmark of their success in the regular season, got back on track Sunday when they made 19 of 43, led by six from Gordon.
Houston’s offense bounced back in a big way after the team had been held to below 100 points in each of the last two games after failing to reach the mark only five times in the regular season.
The offense was helped by a more balanced scoring attack with seven players scoring in double figures after only three Rockets scored more than 10 points in Game 3. Harden had 12 assists after managing just five in the last game and added five rebounds. (AP)
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