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Harden got excited at the reception, Lillard wrote a new chapter in The Legacy of the Clutch
The Brooklyn star has promised to "give a show" in Houston and exists, the big winner improved his incredible averages in the deciding moments.
Ambide sends a message again, Utah explodes on the verdict: "It's fucking ridiculous"
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NBA
Houston Rockets
James Harden
Brooklyn Nets
Joel Ambide
Utah Jazz
Damien Lillard
Walla!
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Thursday, 04 March 2021, 11:02
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Emotional return to Houston.
Harden (Photo: GettyImages, Bob Levey)
The 3,500 spectators who were allowed to enter the Toyota Center in Houston tonight (Wednesday through Thursday) did not really know how to react when the announcer called James Harden's name - until a few months ago one of the biggest stars in the club's history, and now a Brooklyn player.
Applause, applause, contempt whistles, curses - everything from everything was, fitting for the way Harden finished his way with the Brooks and forced the club to send him on a trade to Brooklyn.
"I knew that would be the reaction," the man and the old man insisted, "I just wanted to come and give them a show."
Wanted, and gave: The former MVP continued his excellent form with 29 points, 10 rebounds and 14 assists - his eighth triple-double in the Brooklyn uniform, going into the All-Star break with ten wins in her last 11 games, despite Kevin's injuries Durant and Kyrie Irving.
"Once I'm on the floor I'm just trying to win, I do not care about anything else," added Harden, who inflicted a 13 consecutive loss on the Axis - 132: 114.
"I just wanted to win. I didn't try to show off. I didn't try to do anything other than what I usually do."
Before the game, an exciting video summarizing Harden's time in Houston was shown on the screens.
"You could see he was excited," Nets coach Steve Nash said.
"Houston is very important to James, the club, the city, everything he has achieved here. It was a great game for him and I am proud of the way he handled it."
On the news that the Rockets were going to set aside his jersey with the number 13 on the hall ceiling, Harden said: "I probably did something right. Of course I could not win the championship, but my work on and off the floor in those eight years was great. The only thing I did not do was win the championship. I hope that everything I did will carry more weight than the one thing I did not achieve. "
More on Walla!
A great show for Ambide In the win over Utah, Harden returned to Houston and did not keep faith
To the full article
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Joel Ambide provided a huge performance against one of the best defensive teams in the league.
It ended with 40 points, 19 rebounds and a fateful three that sent the game into overtime, where he defeated the Jazz 123-113 with his Philadelphia.
Last December he claimed on ESPN that Rudy Gover should not have been selected for the third five of the season at his expense last season, and in the end sent another sting to the French chin and all the jazz fans who claimed he was afraid of him.
"As you can see, yes, I was very, very, very scared of him," the cormorant chin joked.
"Keep talking. One of my goals is to be the defensive player of the season, so when you meet players like that it takes something different out of you. I want to control. Offensively, but mostly defensively, that's the goal I set for myself before the season opened."
With all due respect to the defense, most of his attention is drawn this season to Ambide on offense.
It's not just the 40 points he scored on the head of Gover and Utah - he is setting a career-high 29.8 points, 52.1 percent from the field, 41.7 percent off the arc and 86 percent from the line - significant improvements in each of those categories over years past.
"When I got to the league, I never thought I would be so good on offense," he admitted.
"I have always been focused on defense. But it is impossible to be in these talks for personal titles without winning. Right now we are winning, we are first place in the East, we have won the best team in the league and we play well together."
The loser was very angry about the judgment.
Donovan Mitchell, who suffered two technical fouls and was sent off half a minute before extra time, shot: "I do not usually complain or blame the referee, but it is already out of control. There have been games we have won, and there have been some we have lost, but this whole refereeing thing ... "We are nice, we do not complain, we are not frustrated, and we are constantly being beaten. It will be fucking ridiculous. I'm tired. We're all tired. It's just eating me and the league needs to do something about it."
Rudy Gober agreed: "Our guys don't get whistles that the whole fucking league gets. We know we're Utah Jazz, and maybe some people don't want us to succeed, but it's frustrating. I told our guys, when you're a small market group you should be more Better, but it's really frustrating, we deserve more respect as a team and as people, for all our work. "
Not for the first time and not for the last time this season, Damien Lillard struggled for the first few parts of the game, shining in the most important moments.
A typical three-pointer 13.7 seconds to go gave Portland a 106-108 win over Golden State, improving on the incredible clutch balance of one of the league's biggest winners.
In the deciding minutes, Lillard this season scores 61.4 percent from the field (compared to 43.1 non-deciding minutes), 60 percent off the arc (compared to 36.5) and 100 percent from the penalty spot (compared to 92.2).
He has scored 92 clutch points so far this season, first place in the league, and even in the percentages we mentioned here no one is ahead of him.
"He scored a huge shot, that's what he does," Steve Kerr admitted.
"That's the kind of player he is. Even on a bad night he can warm up at any moment, that's why he has to be vigilant with him for 48 minutes."
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* TJ McConnell made history in the league when he finished the first half against Cleveland with nine steals - an all-time record.
The Pacers' replacement quarterback ended up with ten steals, one less than the all-time record held by Kendall Gil and Larry Cannon.
"He's the ultimate teammate," Malcolm Brogdon complimented Guard, who finished with an extraordinary triple-double of 16 points, 13 assists and 10 steals, while scoring 8 of 8 from the field.
* The list of teams interested in PJ Tucker includes the Los Angeles Lakers, Brooklyn, Milwaukee and Miami.
Eric Gordon is also attracting a lot of interest across the league, according to Adrian Wojciechowski.
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