Harden's late winner salvages Game 3 for Rockets vs. off Warriors

After Monday's Game 2 loss, many wondered what it would possibly take for the ever-disappointing Houston Rockets to beat the Golden State Warriors with or without NBA MVP Stephen Curry. Thursday's Game 3 provided a complicated answer, but an answer nonetheless. It just isn't especially clear if any of the circumstances that led to the Rockets' 97-96 victory will repeat themselves again this series.

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Playing against a Warriors team suiting up without Curry for the second-straight game, the Rockets came out with much improved energy in their first home playoff game and jumped out to an early lead. Yet the Warriors did not go away on a night when little went right for their usual leaders and played well enough to set up a tense final few possessions.

The Rockets came very close to giving the game away. Up 95-94 with 13 seconds on the clock, Houston called its last timeout after struggling to find a suitable inbound pass. The second try went as poorly as possible, with Shaun Livingston stealing the pass to create an odd-numbered break that ended up with unlikely hero Ian Clark finishing a go-ahead lay-up.

That gave the Rockets 10 seconds for a response, which Harden supplied rather quickly:

Warriors fans have reason to suspect Harden pushed off, but it's also a smart move to make knowing that most referees are unlikely to make that call in such a big moment. Whatever the merits of the non-call, it's undoubtedly true that Harden came through to extend the Rockets' season for at least one more game. He at least kept some hope alive for Houston.

Of course, the winner still gave the Warriors more than two seconds to create their own game-winner out of a timeout. Unfortunately for them, Draymond Green dribbled the ball off his foot before the play really got started:

Livingston nearly stole the inbound again with a second remaining, but he could not corral it to seal the win for the Rockets.

Green's seventh turnover proved a fitting end to a rough night for him and Klay Thompson. With Curry held out with a sprained ankle again, the Warriors needed at least one of their other All-Stars to play at a high level. Neither did — Green made questionable decisions offensively and lacked shooting touch and Thompson missed all seven of his three-point attempts for an inefficient 17 points on 20 shots. Yet the entire team struggled for large portions of the game, with players taking ill-advised jumpers against several defenders and missing many open looks when they were able to create them. If Game 2 proved that the Warriors can win without Curry, then Game 3 showed that he sure as hell helps a lot when he's on the court.

Golden State might have been able to weather their troubles if Houston hadn't come out with playoff-level energy for the first time all series. The Rockets impressed with much improved activity at both ends, which resulted in a strong start for both James Harden and Dwight Howard. The latter's boost in form was particularly startling — Howard managed to establish an offensive presence inside and patrolled the paint defensively. His final numbers of 13 points and 13 rebounds don't jump out as especially great, but his impact went beyond those counting stats.

Harden's presence showed up in the box score and to anyone watching. He put up 14 of his game-high 35 points in the first quarter to get Houston off to a strong start and continued to dominate the offense throughout, adding nine assists and eight rebounds to flirt with a triple-double. He mixed in a few questionable attempts to go 11-of-26 on the night, but this was easily his most consistently strong game of the series so far. He played like an All-NBA performer to give the Rockets hope.

So, how were the Warriors in a position to win with 10 seconds remaining? The simplest answer is that the coaching staff and players have created a team structure that can transcend individual problems to allow role players to thrive and struggling stars to come up with big plays in enough moments to eke out victories.

But that take doesn't give enough credit to the legitimately excellent performances that kept Golden State in the game when they easily could have gone down 20 points or more. The first came from Marreese Speights, who has found a three-point stroke in recent moves to emerge as an unexpected stretch four. Speights scored 14 of his team-high 22 points in the first half in just eight minutes, making all three of his long-range attempts to lead the Warriors bench.

In the second half, Speights gave way to Shaun Livingston and Ian Clark, two players whose roles have increased significantly with Curry unavailable. Fill-in starter Livingston often takes advantage of his height advantage over other guards, which he exploited against Patrick Beverley for 16 points on 6-of-13 FG. Clark has entered the rotation in this series with Brandon Rush and Leandro Barbosa both struggling to provide much of anything, and he came up with nine of his 11 points in the final 6:35 as an unlikely crunch time participant.

As the Warriors fell back on their structural strengths, the Rockets drifted towards one-on-one basketball with the hope that someone (usually Harden) would step up. They also got away from featuring Howard in the second half to become more one-dimensional, which proved problematic when the shooting went cold late. The general dynamics of the second half suggested that the Rockets' first half energy and focus were the outliers in this series no matter who's playing for the Warriors. The lasting image of the game for the Rockets may not be Harden's winner, but his teammates' unenthused reaction to it:

With Kerr "hopeful" that Curry will play in Game 4, it feels likely that Game 3 will end up as a brief detour on the way to a comfortable series win for the Warriors. The Rockets can feel good that they showed some pride to avoid the sweep, but playing to win is a baseline achievement for playoff participants. They still have much more to prove.

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Eric Freeman is a writer for Ball Don't Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at efreeman_ysports@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!

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