James Harden out-dueled LeBron James down the stretch on Sunday as the Houston Rockets defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers in an exciting overtime thriller. LeBron finished with a game-high 37 points, but his poor free throw shooting was the biggest storyline.
After the game, the Rockets felt that Harden — who scored 33 points and added eight rebounds, five assists and three steals — had done enough to steal LeBron’s nickname.
Long live the new King. Highlights, photos, recap & reactions from today's big OT win on http://t.co/VBY18eSOmU. pic.twitter.com/91utdhnqTx
— Houston Rockets (@HoustonRockets) March 2, 2015
LeBron ended up going 3-for-11 from the charity stripe, including two crucial missed free throws with four seconds left in overtime that would have given Cleveland the lead.
“I didn’t come through for my teammates tonight,” James later admitted, per Jenny Dial Creech of the Houston Chronicle. “I tricked the game up at the free throw line.”
The Rockets may be able to get away with calling Harden “King James” for one night, but we’d all still take LeBron over Harden any day of the week. As for LeBron’s free throw struggles, perhaps he was still feeling the sting of this boot to the groin from Harden.
