That one hurts.
Philadelphia thought it was about to have a statement win at home, knocking off Houston, up two with 6.4 seconds remaining.
But the Rockets had one last shot. They did what everyone in the building knew they would do, getting the ball to James Harden who was isolated on Robert Covington — and Covington didn’t give him much space. Harden drove down the left side and Joel Embiid slid over to cut off any path to the rim, so Harden kicked it to the corner to a waiting Eric Gordon. The Rockets had struggled from three all night, shooting 30.8 percent overall from deep and just 25 percent on corner threes, and Gordon was 4-of-15. Embiid did a good job closing out, forcing Gordon to put the ball on the floor and take a step right to create a little space.
And then Gordon drained it.
Great players make plays, and Gordon has been great this season so far (with Chris Paul out in particular). He led the Rockets with 29 on the night.
But it’s the last three we will remember.