Born a decade apart, James Harden and Lu Dort first made names for themselves nationally at Arizona State.
The Rockets’ Harden, who turns 31 on Wednesday, moved on to greater fame in the NBA. Dort, just a rookie, is early in the process of doing so — thanks in part to his strong defense on Harden more than 2,000 miles from Tempe, Ariz., in the NBA playoffs bubble near Orlando, Fla.
Time and again on Saturday night, Dort clamped down on a driving Harden, frustrating his fellow Sun Devil in the Thunder’s 119-107 overtime victory in Game 3, Oklahoma City’s first victory of the postseason.
The series continues with Game 4 at 3 p.m. Monday. The Thunder avoided their first 0-3 deficit in a playoffs series under coach Billy Donovan, who’s in his fifth season with Oklahoma City after leading Florida to two NCAA national titles in 2006 and 2007.
The Thunder won two of three in the regular season against the Rockets, with Dort keeping Harden in check — or at least more in check than plenty of other defenders against the league’s most prolific scorer. Harden on Saturday as usual led the Rockets with 38 points, but he was 12 of 27 from the field, including 3 of 13 from the 3-point line.
Dort missed the Rockets’ Game 1 victory over the Thunder on Tuesday with a sprained knee and stepped back into the starting lineup on Thursday. The Rockets still prevailed by double digits, although Dort didn’t look like a rookie in his first playoff game in continually hampering Harden, who leaned on the Rockets’ role players to pull out the victory.
Donovan praised Dort’s defense not only on Harden but Eric Gordon, especially after Harden fouled out with 4:07 remaining in overtime. Donovan also was tickled with the four quarters leading to the extra minutes.
“Overall I thought our guys kept battling, and like we talked about the last two games it’s going to be 48 minutes,” Donovan said. “Even though every moment wasn’t great, I thought our guys kept competing and fighting and battling the whole way through.”
With the overtime the game actually went 53 minutes, and with Harden on the bench Dort really asserted himself on both ends of the floor. Dort overall scored 9 points and grabbed eight rebounds, but it was his consistent solid defense that left Donovan most impressed.
“James fouled out and they went to Gordon and Lu had the responsibility of guarding both those guys,” Donovan said. “Lu’s effort on James and Eric was really, really great. He put his all into it.”
During the regular season, when the fifth-seeded Thunder finished with the same record as the Rockets (44-28), Oklahoma City won an NBA-best 30 games with a game in crunch time (within a point in the last five minutes).
“This is just an amazing team that’s going to fight until the end,” said Danilo Gallinari, one of four Thunder players to score at least 20 points.
Added Dort: “We’re here to compete, and we won’t give up.”
Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander calmly sank a 3-pointer from the far right corner to give Oklahoma City a 104-103 lead with 14.3 seconds remaining in regulation. The Rockets’ Danuel House then made one of two free throws and the contest was on to the extra five minutes, and as Gilgeous-Alexander pointed out Dort’s defense allowed the Thunder to be in the game late in the first place.
“We know Lu and what he does and we expect that from him every night,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “He brings it night in and night out, and he’s a big key to our team.”
As for Gilgeous-Alexander’s key 3-pointer on a pinpoint pass from a driving Chris Paul?
“It felt good as soon as it left my hand,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “Chris obviously made a great pass, and I just wanted to shoot it with confidence, and it worked in our favor. We obviously felt like this was a do-or-die game, and (in Game 4) we just want to bring the energy and intensity, and let the chips fall where they may.”
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Lu Dort makes Game 3 difficult for James Harden - Houston Chronicle
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