Harden goes without free-throw attempt for 1st time in 148 games
The Golden State Warriors systematically picked apart the Houston Rockets in Game 1 of their Western Conference quarterfinal Saturday, limiting the league's eighth-best offense to just 78 points.
It can be tough to put points on the board when the guy who accounts for 32.5 percent of your possessions can't get anything going, and James Harden had a poor night at the office. The NBA's second-leading scorer managed just 17 points on 19 field-goal attempts, turning the ball over six times and registering a minus-27 rating in 32 minutes.
The most impressive and effective thing the Warriors did against Harden was keep him off the line. After leading the league with 10.2 free-throw attempts per game this season, Harden didn't get to the stripe once on Saturday.
Prior to that, he'd gone 148 straight games (including playoffs) with at least one free-throw attempt, a streak dating back to Jan. 2, 2015.
The Warriors have been bucking precedent and rewriting history all season. Nice to see they've carried that penchant over to the playoffs.