James Harden took Dwight Howard's screen and pulled up at the left-side elbow. Howard rolled to the basket and started his leap, expecting Harden's pass for what would have been a perfect alley-oop. It wasn’t to be.
Instead, Harden opted for an ill-advised mid-range jumper, which he missed.
Howard flailed at the rebound, coming nowhere near it, and looked at Harden with dismay. In the micro, it was a meaningless play during the first quarter of a game with a 10-8 score.
In the macro, if you were to find a moment encapsulating why the short-lived Harden-Howard era died, that might have been it. After that play (and more like it), few could have doubted Howard would leave at the season’s end and the Houston Rockets would be putting together a very different look in 2016-17.
In April, Calvin Watkins of ESPN.com reported the consternation went both ways:
While Howard is irked by not getting the ball as often as he would like, it is Harden who is dismayed by the center. He wishes Howard would demand the ball and not goof around so much. Howard's personality -- bubbly, friendly, ...
Read Full Article at Bleacher Report - NBA
Article written by Kelly Scaletta
Houston Rockets Complete 2016-17 NBA Season Preview
September 30th, 2016 by Kelly Scaletta Leave a reply »
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