Calvin Watkins, ESPN Staff Writer 9y

James Harden's step-back clinches Game 3 for Houston

DALLAS -- There are moments in a season where your best player makes, well, plays. Thursday night you saw it with Stephen Curry of Golden State, hitting a miracle 3 from the corner while being tackled by a pair of New Orleans Pelicans.

Friday night it was James Harden’s turn.

With the Houston Rockets leading by one and the game clock dwindling down, Harden kept the ball when the defense switched on Dwight Howard. So instead of Monta Ellis on Harden, Tyson Chandler, a 7-footer, guarded him.

Harden loves this because he turns into the giant killer.

Harden stepped back causing Chandler to be off balanced and shot the ball, which bounced around off the rim before sliding through the net. The 18-foot jumper stunned the American Airlines Center crowd and after Corey Brewer made one of two free throws and Josh Smith forced Ellis to miss the rim on a 20-footer at the buzzer, it was ballgame.

The Rockets defeated the Dallas Mavericks 130-128 to take a commanding 3-0 lead in this series. At best they’ll play a Game 5 in Houston, but with Harden on the floor, another trip back here might not be necessary.

“When you have the MVP on your team, it makes it easy,” Brewer said.

Oh yeah, the MVP of the Rockets, maybe the NBA, depending on the vote, produced his best game of the postseason Friday night.

Harden scored a playoff career-high 42 points while making a playoff-career high 15 shots. In 36 minutes he was seven-for-seven from the line, had nine assists and five rebounds. There were no-look passes, jumpers, clutch drives and basically a complete game from the Rockets shooting guard.

“I’ve always believed in him,” Terrence Jones said.

Of course you believe in Harden, who has been everything for this team at the right time. While Howard continues to amaze everyone in this series with a dominant effort in the paint causing Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle to complain he was pushing everybody around, it’s Harden’s effort in Game 3 that stands out as well.

“I’ve seen it a lot this year,” Rockets coach Kevin McHale said. “The guy’s played fantastic and a big game when we needed him to play well and he did, he stepped up.”

This was the best of the three games with the Mavericks in a desperate mode to avoid a 0-3 hole. Harden took over in the third quarter. He scored 16 points in the 12 minutes as the Rockets entered the final frame ahead 101-99.

Dallas didn’t die until Harden ended its evening with two clutch plays in the final minute. Somehow he sliced through the defense and was fouled scoring on a layup with half his body going out of bounds with 56.8 seconds to play. Harden made the free throw to give Houston a 127-123 lead. Yet it wasn’t over. Dirk Nowitzki made three free throws after being fouled by Harden and the game was down to one with 33.8 seconds.

Now it was time for Harden to finish the game.

“I know what he’s going to do when he’s got a big man on him,” Jones said. “He just executes the step-back.”

Harden knows some big men aren’t athletic enough to stay with him along the perimeter so he works on the step-back jumper knowing he must get enough space between him and the defender and arch on the ball to get over a longer arm.

It was the biggest shot of the night, not the biggest play. That would go to Smith, who defended Ellis on the final shot. Howard had a wonderful night, too, with a playoff career-high 26 rebounds, which tied a franchise playoff high.

Harden’s play and shot was magnificent. It was a shot that can’t be duplicated.

“I was reading his feet,” Harden said of Chandler. “He was looking for me to drive and [he was] so antsy I just gave him the step-back and that’s something I work on every single day. Just have confidence in it and Dwight kinda makes fun of me shooting that shot. He tries to imitate me in practice but it’s something that I work on every single day. So I just got confidence to go out there and shoot it and make it.”

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