HOUSTON — Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant and the two-time defending champion Golden State Warriors?
Check.
Russell Westbrook, Paul George and the impenetrable Oklahoma City Thunder?
Thank you, next.
The upstart Los Angeles Clippers?
Easy money.
Popovich’s Spurs, LeBron’s Lakers and Lillard’s Blazers?
Been there, done that.
The Nuggets have passed every test the Western Conference has thrown their way over the first half of the regular season like a straight-A student. But even the top 10 percent of Harvard’s honor roll have a subject or two that always gives them trouble. For Denver, their version of a Monday morning organic chemistry lecture is the Houston Rockets, who for a ninth-straight time gave the Nuggets an equation that even their smartest basketball minds couldn’t solve.
James Harden finished with 32 points on just 7-18 shooting from the field and 6-15 from three but paraded from the three-point arc to the charity stripe 15 times, converting on 12 free throws, which proved to be the difference in the Rockets’ 125-113 win and a point of contention for Nuggets coach Michael Malone in his postgame remarks.
Denver tried to trap Harden in the first half, sending two defenders at him as soon as he brushed shoulders with Clint Capela and came off one of his big man’s flurry of high ball screens. The MVP candidate was fine with the Nuggets’ defensive approach, handing out more first-half assists (7) than shots (6). But Harden got loose late in the second quarter and put his stamp on the Rockets’ win, scoring 14 points in the half’s final four minutes, 10 of which came in the final 1:49 of the period.
“As well as you can hold him in check,” Malone said reflecting on his team’s first-half defensive performance. “When you get the ball out of his hands, he’s making plays for his teammates. He’s a great player. We all know that. I thought there were some pretty good examples of getting the ball out of his hands.”
The game’s biggest momentum-changer came in those last 109 seconds of the first half when Harden strutted up the floor draped by Torrey Craig and bided his time as Austin Rivers jogged up towards the three-point line to set him a screen. Harden forced the switch, which left Jamal Murray in the scariest of all places to be on the basketball floor: out beyond the three-point line 1-on-1 against The Beard.
Harden caught Murray leaning with a perfectly timed behind the back dribble, which sent the Nuggets’ point guard toppling to the hardwood. He rose, fired and watched the ball splash through the nylon while Murray made contact with his forearm on the release. The four-point play was a killer. Harden power walked back to half court, yelling into the sea of red and igniting his followers who made up a sellout crowd at Toyota Center and had all convened on this Monday night to worship their ruler.
“He’s probably the hardest guy in the NBA to guard,” Nikola Jokic said.
The Nuggets trailed by just 10 points at the half, but Harden’s squall helped him find the steady rhythm that’s all too familiar to Denver. Over the third and fourth quarters, Harden got the switches he wanted and rocked his defenders to sleep with one between the leg dribble after another. Thanks to its bench, Denver was able to trim Houston’s margin to six in the fourth quarter, but as the fourth quarter wound down, Harden looked like he was playing on Rookie mode, while the Nuggets had their game sliders turned up to Hall of Fame.
Harden’s 32 hurt Denver, but Houston hit the Nuggets from all angles. Clint Capela played a nearly perfect game, finishing with 31 points on 13-18 shooting to go with nine rebounds. Gerald Green sunk six of 10 threes. PJ Tucker tallied a career-high seven triples and was left wide open time and time again as Denver tried to swarm Harden.
When the clock hit all zeroes and Denver trudged to the visitor’s locker room, heads hanging and spirits low with its five-game winning streak snapped, the Nuggets found themselves in a familiar spot. Denver hasn’t beat Harden’s Rockets since Oct. 28, 2015. Murray, who finished with 13 points on a pedestrian 5-13 shooting and his 2016 draft classmates Juancho Hernangomez and Malik Beasley, have never tasted defeat against Harden’s crew. Like it has over the last couple of seasons, the Rockets’ spread pick-and-roll offense gave the Nuggets’ defense fits.
“They’re are kind of unique. I can say that. They are kind of like Milwaukee,” said Jokic, comparing Houston to the only other team Denver has lost to twice this season. “They have the guy who can go by guys and just pass it to open guys in the corner or slot. They are kind of unique. They are not like Golden State. Golden State shoots threes too but its kind of different. They are a unique team.”
Denver is confident that it can turn the recent tide against Houston. Malone remained adamant following the loss that the Nuggets can compete with the Rockets, noting that even though Denver has fallen to them nine-straight times, his club swept Houston in his first year on the job. Over the last couple of matchups, Denver has been competitive until the fourth quarter too.
Paul Millsap brushed off any talk that Houston’s physicality got the better of Denver.
“I don’t see them as a physical team,” Millsap said. “They get away with a lot of stuff. A lot of holding a lot of pushing. But that’s OK. It’s preparing us. We’ve got to be stronger. We’ve played more physical teams than that.”
Monday was an uncomfortable reminder that the Rockets represent the one component of Denver’s picturesque win profile that’s lacking. The Nuggets are a perfect 5-0 in the Northwest Division, 16-3 inside the friendly confines of Pepsi Center, 16-7 against the Western Conference and 18-7 against teams better than .500.
For now, Houston is the final exam that Denver is still trying to pass.
