For one game, the Houston Rockets were just fine without Russell Westbrook. On Tuesday, the Rockets beat the Thunder in all facets of the game en route to a 123-108 victory to take a 1-0 lead in their first round series.
With Westbrook out with a quad-strain, Harden was sensational with 37 points and 11 rebounds on 12-of-22 shots, including 6-of-13 from outside the arc, and the Rockets had five players scoring in double figures. Next to Harden, Jeff Green was great, finishing with 22 points. Eric Gordon had 21, Ben McLemore had 14 and PJ Tucker added 11.
Houston made 20 3-pointers as a team, outscoring OKC by 21 from deep.
Danilo Gallinari led the Thunder with 29 points, while Chris Paul dropped one assist shoe from a triple double with 20 points, 10 rebounds and nine dimes – but much of Paul’s score came when the game was already gone in the second half. . OKC saw death at both ends, and will have to figure out how the ball can be better moved to crack Houston’s defense, which was great all night.
