Rockets collapse late, drop Game 3 to Thunder

Down the stretch in Game 3, everything pointed toward another tight win for Houston -- the Rockets found themselves up five with a minute remaining in a game they had led for a majority of the contest.

Everything would fall apart after that point, however, as costly turnovers, missed free throws, and fatigue ended up handing the Rockets their first loss in the playoffs by a score of 119-107 in overtime.

The game was once again close from the opening tip. Houston only managed to open up a six point lead after one quarter, as strong defensive play limited OKC to only 23 first quarter points, working in tandem with a decent start from James Harden, who had eight quick points.

Unfortunately, that aggressive defense would partially translate into fouls. The Thunder shot 21 free throws in the first half, compared to the Rockets' nine. Paired with Dennis Schroder's and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's 15 points each, the Thunder would manage to keep pace with Houston in the first half, matching Houston's 34 second quarter points to keep the game in close range.

James Harden elevated himself further in the second quarter, bringing his total to 24 points on less than stellar shooting through the first 24 minutes. Jeff Green also poured in 14 at the halfway mark.

A slow third quarter that saw both teams fail to score more than 22 points cut Houston's lead to four, but Houston stayed resilient and had themselves in position to take the game late in the fourth. A P.J. Tucker three pointer would increase Houston's lead to 102-97 with less than a minute left in the game.

Things quickly went south after that bucket -- Chris Paul would get a quick layup to cut the lead down to three, and a horrendous mental gaffe from Danuel House, who stepped out of bounds with 30 seconds to go, gave OKC the ball again. A Steven Adams layup made the score 102-101.

A Harden free throw would push the lead to two, but that evaporated quickly with a Gilgeous-Alexander three pointer that gave OKC the lead. A poor rotation from House left the young guard open.

House had a chance to make up for his mistakes, however, as he was fouled with less than ten seconds in the game and subsequently given two free throws that could have given Houston the lead. He'd sink the first one to tie it, but miss the second. The game would go to overtime with the game knotted at 104.

James Harden would foul out of the game for the first time all year with less than a minute into the period, and that would prove to be the killing blow for Houston in the game, as OKC rallied to outscore the Rockets 15-3 in the overtime period to seal the game.

Harden finished with 38 points (12-27, 3-13 3PT%, 11-15 FT), eight assists, and seven rebounds in the loss. Jeff Green again had a productive game, scoring 22 points in 38 minutes of action. Eric Gordon scored 18 points, but went a miserable 33% from the field to go with five turnovers.

Game 4 will be played a 3 PM CT on Monday, which may feature the return of Russell Westbrook, who has thus far been sidelined with a quad injury.