by Marcel Mutoni / @ marcel_mutoni
Through two games of the first round Playoff series against the Portland Trail Blazers, Houston Rockets All-Star guard James Harden is connecting on a ghastly 29.8 percent of his field goal attempts.
Having missed 33 of 47 shots so far in a pair of home losses, Harden realizes the Rockets are now facing an absolute must-win situation Friday night in Game 3.
After the media pressed him last night about his struggles against Portland’s defense so far, an angry James Harden lashed out at a reporter in the locker room.
Per the Houston Chronicle and Oregonian:
“Game 3 is our season,” Harden said. “If we don’t win that one, it will be really hard to get a win in Game 4.”
“It’s basketball – making shots,” Harden said before moving onto the next question.
But when his media session in the Rockets opulent locker room ended, Harden went back at the reporter, asking if he had ever seen a player not play well before. The reporter answered that the struggle seemed unusual for Harden and was coming on a major stage, the playoffs.
The two went back and forth for a while, with Harden asking the reporter if he’d ever seen a basketball game before, then demanding to know whom the reporter was. The exchange got testy enough that team officials stepped in to usher Harden out.
As he left the room, Harden called the reporter “weirdo.”
Harden added that Houston needs to re-gain their mojo, which leads to open three-pointers and easy buckets in transition.
It also wouldn’t hurt the Rockets’ cause if they could figure out what to do about LaMarcus Aldridge – the Blazers big man has lit them up for 89 points and 26 rebounds in the series’ first two games.
With the next two battles taking place in Portland, Houston’s season is on the line, and their backs are firmly up against the wall.
