Houston Rockets Stave Off Elimination, James Harden Records First Playoff Triple-Double

By Cheri Cheng - 13 May '15 09:29AM

James Harden played like a true MVP candidate in the Houston Rockets' 124-103 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers in a "win or go home" Game 5 situation. Harden, who was battling the flu earlier that day, recorded his first playoff triple-double.

"I was alright," Harden said softly after the game. "We won, so that's all that matters."

He added, "I've just been feeling a little down these last couple games. I'll be all right. We weren't aggressive enough the first four games," Harden said. "We were timid. They have really good bigs. We made a conscious effort to go into attack mode."

Before the game, Harden had received IV fluids to help alleviate his flu symptoms. Harden did not disclose how high his temperature was before or during the game.

"He wasn't feeling well all day," Rockets coach Kevin McHale said. "He wasn't feeling well at shootaround. He had a triple-double tonight and he had a hell of a game. He had an IV this afternoon and he played a great game for us and we needed it."

Harden left the game with 1:45 to play and immediately headed to the locker room where he waited to speak with reporters.

"We knew it was a win or go home," he said in the interview room. "We had a great opportunity in front of our home crowd to regain our swagger, and we did that from the beginning of the game. They kind of embarrassed us twice in L.A., so we knew we would play a lot better and we did tonight."

Once he finished his interview, Harden received a hug from Rockets owner Leslie Alexander and headed over to his bodyguard who was holding four water bottles.

Harden finished Tuesday night, scoring 26 points. He recorded 11 rebounds and 10 assists. Harden was not the only Rocket who stepped up his game. Dwight Howard scored 20 points while Trevor Ariza added 22 points and shot 8-for-12.

The Rockets will travel to Los Angeles for Game 6 of the series, which takes place on Thursday, May 14th at 10:30 p.m. ET. The Clippers lead the series 3-2.