James Harden never worried. In fact, he didn't know he had missed his first 15 shots.
Through it all, he never changed the attacking style that made him the NBA's leading scorer.
Harden overcame a poor shooting performance and scored 14 of his 22 points in the fourth quarter, leading the Houston Rockets to a vital 104-101 win on Saturday over the Utah Jazz to take a commanding 3-0 lead in their first-round playoff series.
James Harden found his feet in the fourth quarter to help Houston Rockets to a vital victory
It was a horror show from the MVP candidate in the first three quarters as he missed 15 shots
But Harden is one of the finest in the game and soon found his range in a frantic final quarter
'Keep shooting. Keep being aggressive,' Harden said afterwards. 'My job is to go out there and produce. Be aggressive and in attack mode. Nothing changes.'
Not much has worked against Harden for the Jazz and even when they thought they had him trapped, they weren't able to control 'The Beard' for a full game.
'You're going to give something up. The best thing you can do with him is just try to make it hard on him. Even when you do that, there's times where he's going to make plays,' Utah coach Quin Snyder said.
Utah's fans roared on the players knowing they needed a win at home to keep their series alive
Harden found himself in for some rough treatment as he was tracked by Donovan Mitchell
The Jazz didn't take it easy on Harden, taking every opportunity to knock him down, even when it sent him to the free-throw line where he is so prolific. For one of the rare times this season, Harden passed up some shots. But he did take them - and make them - when they counted most.
Though the victory was hardly a thing of beauty, Houston coach Mike D'Antoni was grateful for the way it went down.
'Sooner or later we have to win games on defense. We did this time,' D'Antoni said of his team which is known for Harden's lethal three-point attack but has drastically improved on the defensive end since mid-season.
Harden made a three-pointer and added two free throws with 42.4 seconds left to give the Rockets a 101-97 lead.
After Donovan Mitchell made two free throws, Harden missed another three-point attempt, but P.J. Tucker, who finished with 12 points and 10 rebounds, grabbed the rebound, was fouled, making one of his two free throws.
Chris Paul said: 'You trust (Tucker) to make those plays... He's going to do anything and everything to help the team win.'
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