O.J. Mayo overshadows James Harden; Dallas Mavericks edge out Houston Rockets 116-109: NBA Recap
Saturday night’s game against the Dallas Mavericks, marked the return of Houston Rockets’ head coach Kevin McHale, whose daughter died last month. And till halftime, James Harden was well on his way to give his grieving coach a victorious return. Harden scored 30 points till halftime, and had the Rockets leading by three, 66-63. He then scored six in the third quarter as the Rockets pushed their lead to 89-84 and looked like the favourites to win it.
But then, O.J. Mayo decided to take over.
The Mavericks’ top scorer this season erupted with 16 points in the last quarter, including 12 in the last 3:18 to give Dallas a 116-109 win.
Rick Carlisle, the Mavs’ coach was elated;
"Unbelievable performance. What [Mayo is] showing over the first 20 games is that he has the ability to carry a team at times. It was really impressive tonight. He's shown a strong-willed mentality and is really hungry to win. ... You talk about an emotional rollercoaster of a game. It doesn't get any more crazy than this one tonight."
The shooting guard finished with a game high 40 points which included six triples and also grabbed 8 rebounds.
Chris Kaman played with a bruised left ankle, but made a major impact with 20 points in just 18:35.
"Kaman showed a lot of guts even being out there," Carlisle added. "He went out there and gave us everything he had. He's obviously struggling laterally, but to put up the scoring numbers that he did is phenomenal. It's proves a lot to the team."
Dallas were leading by 39-20 late in the first quarter, but the Rockets outscored the Mavs by 38-15 till the 2:10 in the second, converting a 19 point deficit into a 58-54 lead. Nearly three and half minutes inside the third quarter, Rockets had stretched their lead to 76-67 and were leading by 11 inside the first three minutes of the fourth.
A 22-5 Dallas response however completely rattled them. Harden scored his only three points of the game via a three point play in the ensuing passage, and after Mayo knocked down a jumper, Patrick Patterson knocked down a three to make it a one basket game at 107-109. A personal 5 point run from Mayo however finished off the game.
Harden finished the game with 39 points while Chandler Parsons notched up an 18 point-10 rebound double-double from the 9-10 Rockets.
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