James Harden knows where his Houston Rockets went wrong in their 104-100 Game 6 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder in the first round of the playoffs on Monday night in Orlando, Fla.
The Rockets turned the ball over 22 times, compared to 19 for OKC. Russell Westbrook, who was playing in just his second playoff game since returning from a quad injury, turned the ball over seven times. Two of his turnovers came in the final two minutes of the game, taking away valuable chances for the Rockets.
“A lot of careless turnovers. Including myself. Just too many turnovers, especially in a playoff game — a closeout game — just gave them too many opportunities,” Harden said after the game.
“I think defensively we did a pretty good job. We just shot ourselves in the foot by turning the ball over and giving us less opportunities to score.”
Westbrook had an ugly turnover with his team down 102-100 and under 10 seconds left in the game that was hard to ignore.
Westbrook needs to be better, and everyone seems to recognize that. Harden turned the ball over five times in the loss. And the Rockets got shown up by Chris Paul.
Game 7 between the teams will be on Wednesday.
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