The defense and preventing guard James Harden from making the final shot allowed the Miami Heat to beat the Houston Rockets 101-99, who broke a five-game winning streak and also star point guard Chris Paul. injured.
The Heat were up on the scoreboard when the possession of the last seconds of the game was for the Rockets, who once again designed the offensive action with passing the ball to Harden to look for the miraculous and winning basket.
But it did not happen because guard Dwyane Wade and two other players from the Heat scored Harden who could not get the ball, they gave it to Eric Gordon who failed and the Miami team was left with the victory, the third consecutive that they managed to put the losing mark of 14-16.
Forward Josh Richardson was once again the leader of the Heat’s attack with 22 points, seven assists and six rebounds.
While guard Tyler Johnson arrived at 19 and reserve forward Derrick Jones Jr. ended up being the sixth player of the Heat to provide 15 points.
The pivot Hassan Whiteside with 17 rebounds, including 11 defensive, was the best player of the Heat in the paintings, in addition to scoring 9 points.
The Heat had up to 16 points at the start of the game and another 11 in the fourth period before making the final comeback.
Despite the triumph, the Heat’s attack remained inconsistent, with 39 (36-93) percent and 23 (9-39) of triples, compared to 35 (29-82) and 33 (18-54). )%, respectively, of the Rockets.
The Houston team, which last night beat the NBA record with 26 triples against the Wizards of Washington, added another 18 the combination of the two nights in a row (44) was the second best of all time, only surpassed by the 46 that the Rockets themselves achieved in the 2016-17 season.
Once again, the Rockets had Harden as their top scorer with a double-double of 35 points, 12 assists, six rebounds and two turnovers.
Gordon finished with 20 points, forward P.J. Tucker reached 14 points and reserve Danuel House Jr. scored 10 points to complete the list of the four Rockets players who had double-digit numbers, but that did not stop the Houston team’s loss that remains with the 16-15.
The Rockets dropped to second in the Southwest Division standings, while the San Antonio Spurs (17-15), who rested and will be their rivals on Saturday at the Toyota Center in Houston, are now the new leaders.
But the great loss of the Rockets was not to be without the victory but to have the low for injury in the second quarter of Paul, who suffered a muscle pull in the left leg and is sure to have to be several games without playing.
Although it is expected that on Friday, when the team is already in Houston, Paul will be examined by the doctors, who will perform an MRI to find out the true extent of his injury.
Before retiring Paul to the dressing room, injured, the Rockets were up on the scoreboard with a partial of 38-45, and in the eight games that the team has played so far this season without the starting point or Harden have a losing record of 1-7.
Matching last season’s games, the Rockets have lost nine consecutive games when Paul has not been on the field.
