The NBA is littered with ‘what ifs’.
One of the biggest and simplest ‘what ifs’ in NBA history is what if the Houston Rockets didn’t miss 27 straight 3-pointers in the second half against the Golden State Warriors in Game 7 of the Western Conference Finals.
James Harden and the Rockets couldn’t overcome the Warriors in the second half of Game 7GettySteph Curry and the Warriors’ great dynasty may have been short-lived and nipped in the bud if James Harden and the Rockets had not gone historically cold in the second half.
The Rockets had a 54-43 lead going into the half at the Toyota Center in Houston.
Harden, fresh off hoisting the MVP award to the home crowd, was just 24 minutes away from leading the Rockets to the NBA Finals.
Instead, Curry and Kevin Durant happened, and the Rockets made the kind of history you never want to make.
Houston broke the NBA playoff record for most consecutive misses from outside (25) and also tied the overall NBA record with 27 straight misses from beyond the arc.
They were outscored 58-38 in the second half.
The Warriors would escape Houston and go on to sweep LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers in the finals, winning their second consecutive championship, and third in four years.
2018 would prove to be Harden and Houston’s best chance at a ring, and the closest they would ever get together.
They would fall in the second round in back-to-back years in 2019 and 2020, before Harden would ask for a trade and be granted his request in January 2021.
Houston would then miss the playoffs over the next four seasons.
Curry and the Warriors advanced to their fourth straight finals appearanceGetty Durant would go on to win Finals MVP for the second consecutive yearGettyWhat might be an even bigger what if than the 27 missed 3s is what if Chris Paul never hurt his hamstring?
Paul missed the final two games of the series after going down with a hamstring injury in the final moments in Game 5.
“We just didn’t have that extra juice that we needed,” Harden said after the historically cold spell.
Warriors head coach Steve Kerr knew that there was more than enough time to overcome the 11-point deficit.
“It’s amazing how long the NBA game is,” Kerr said.
“Forty-eight minutes, it lasts a long time and there’s so many opportunities to get yourself going as a team.
Harden and Curry had historic battles, that usually ended with Curry as the victorGetty“And with our team, there’s just so much firepower that at some point, we’re going to get going.”
However, even Kerr had to acknowledge they may have had a rabbit’s foot in their back pockets.
“We were lucky to escape out of here,” Kerr said.
In today’s NBA, missing 27 straight 3-pointers is nearly impossible.
That’s why so many consider what the Rockets did to be ‘the greatest choke job in NBA history.’
Of course, these Warriors themselves may have a claim to that, considering how 2016 ended.
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