'Weirdest thing I've seen': NBA Playoffs rocked by strange moment
The NBA Playoffs has witnessed an utterly bizarre moment, as teams continue to come up with new ways to defend James Harden.
Harden 26 points on Wednesday as the Houston Rockets booked their place in the Western Conference semi-finals with a 100-93 victory over the Utah Jazz.
Harden, the 2018 NBA Most Valuable Player, led the scoring as the Rockets overcame an improved Utah defensive effort to clinch a 4-1 series victory at Houston’s Toyota Centre.
But a strange moment in the fourth quarter left fans gobsmacked.
While Harden had the ball, Ricky Rubio decided he’d try defending from BEHIND him, in an apparent attempt to stop Harden from shooting a three-pointer.
Harden actually backed up against Rubio a number of times, before driving into the lane and hitting a lay-up.
One sports reporter called it the weirdest thing they’d ever seen.
This doggystyle D on Harden is the weirdest thing I've ever seen. Weirder is that Harden is not driving but leaning backward into it. Weirdest is that it's working.
— Hunter Atkins (@HunterAtkins35) April 25, 2019
I still can't believe that this is a legitimate strategic choice for guarding somebody pic.twitter.com/Wzxld6LsMf
— Rodger Sherman (@rodger) April 25, 2019
It’s shocking to see James Harden shy away from going to the basket after getting penetration. Rudy Gobert has marked his territory.
— Tim MacMahon (@espn_macmahon) April 25, 2019
Apparently Ricky Rubio learned how to play defense from James Harden. pic.twitter.com/nS5IKABphz
— FunnyNBAguy (@FunnyNbaGuy) April 25, 2019
I’ve never in life seen someone be defended the way Ricky Rubio just guarded James Harden in this Rockets / Jazz game. Man literally stood behind him 🤯🤔 pic.twitter.com/9eXfKO6US9
— kingtisemedia (@kingtisemedia) April 25, 2019
The whole jazz organization are weirdos for allowing Ricky Rubio to play defense like that for the whole series against James Harden
— Leon Wade 🦁 (@iitsLwade) April 25, 2019
why is Rubio guarding behind harden 🤔
— NU$KI (@nuski_1400) April 25, 2019
Rubio intentionally guarding Harden from behind?
Huh?— Dave Mason (@BeginTry) April 25, 2019
And it’s actually not Rubio’s first attempt to psyche out Harden:
Utah employed "The Milwaukee Approach" in defending James Harden in Game 1. By halftime, it turned Ricky Rubio into a meme.
Here are a couple things the Jazz can do differently: https://t.co/YGG2gojuAP pic.twitter.com/6DZLCb1ajC
— Andy Bailey (@AndrewDBailey) April 17, 2019
Moving on
The Rockets had cruised to blowout victories in the opening two games of the series, winning by margins of 32 points and 20 points against an overwhelmed Jazz defense.
However, with Utah fighting to stay in the series on Wednesday there was rarely much daylight between the two sides, with the first quarter ending level at 20-20.
Houston pulled ahead to lead 46-40 at half-time and had opened up a 75-67 lead heading into the final quarter.
Utah managed to stay in touch, though, and pulled to within four points at 86-90 with just under 4min 30sec remaining.
But Rubio missed a golden chance to put the Jazz ahead, squandering a wide open three-pointer from the corner to leave Houston 94-93 ahead.
The momentum shifted after that error, PJ Tucker adding two free throws to make it 96-93. Harden then made a superb steal and drew a foul to earn two free throws that put the Rockets up by five with 38 seconds remaining.
Chris Paul added two late free throws to make the game safe. Paul finished with 15 points, eight rebounds and five assists.
Royce O’Neale led the Utah scoring, finishing with 18 off the bench.
with AFP
