James Harden was magnificent in Game 2 against the Warriors, but ultimately came up short.
Trailing by a point with possession and eight seconds or so remaining, Harden was unable to get a shot off, and turned the ball over after being double-teamed by Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson on the final play of the contest.
It was a crushing loss, and we saw some of Harden’s frustration as cameras caught him knocking some curtains over on his way to the locker room.
Evidently, there was more.
From Jimmy Spencer of Sporting News:“Kicking chairs, it’s frustrating,” Harden said. “Frustrating to give the game away like that for myself.” ...
“Ten out of 10 times, we’ll take that play,” Harden said. “It gave me confidence, but it’s still frustrating when I know I could have at least got a shot up.” ...
“Got the ball off the glass, and I’m thinking, just to try to get an easy one,” Harden said. “They did a good job of having two guys on me, so I couldn’t attack, and when I looked up I saw a red jersey and it was Dwight so I tried to throw it back to him. At that time I’m thinking five seconds on the clock, so I tried to get the ball back, and there was still two guys right there. I watched the film. It’s just a tough, tough play.”
Watching it again, it appeared as though Harden had a brief opportunity to get a shot up earlier in the possession, after he got a bit of separation from Thompson. But he passed up the shot, perhaps because Harrison Barnes was running right behind him at that very moment, and Harden didn’t feel he had the space.
Either way, the frustration is completely understandable.
