SPORTS
Saturday, July 13, 2019
Analysis: Westbrook, Harden
will need to change their games
By TIM REYNOLDS
AP Basketball Writer
LAS VEGAS — Every-
one knows that Rus-
sell Westbrook and James
Harden played together
before, which automati-
cally makes their reunion in
Houston seem like the right
fit.
It won’t be that easy.
They’ve both changed
since those days.
But here they are,
together again after the
Oklahoma City Thunder
decided to trade Westbrook
to the Houston Rockets for
Chris Paul and another load
of draft picks that Sam Presti
is collecting in the same way
that sneakerheads hoard vin-
tage pairs of Jordans. On the
surface, it’s a shiny move for
Houston — two of the last
three NBA MVPs, the two
guys with the most points
over the last five seasons, in
the same backcourt.
Per NBA rules, there
will only be one ball in play,
however.
The term they use is “ball
dominant,” a fancy way of
saying certain players need
the ball in their hands more
than others. Westbrook and
Harden are two of those
guys. Harden held the ball
for nearly 6½ seconds —
a league high — and took
nearly six dribbles, on aver-
age, every time he touched it
last season. Westbrook typi-
cally held the ball for 5.1 sec-
onds, taking nearly five drib-
bles every time it was in his
hands.
That can’t continue.
They’re both going to
have to change.
And getting big-time
stars to change is never easy.
The Rockets know this,
of course, but in a Western
Conference that saw Kawhi
Leonard and Paul George
join the Los Angeles Clip-
pers, Anthony Davis join
the Los Angeles Lakers and
Kevin Durant leave Golden
AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki, File
In this Jan. 25, 2012, file photo, Oklahoma City Thunder guard James Harden, left, talks
with teammate Russell Westbrook in the fourth quarter of an NBA basketball game in
Oklahoma City.
State, they had to do some-
thing. Harden and Paul, for
whatever reason, didn’t work
out. Title-chasing teams like
Houston aren’t inclined to be
patient, so the Rockets took
a big swing and brought on
Westbrook.
It’s believed that this is
a trade both Westbrook and
Harden wanted. When the
Thunder decided to deal
George to the Clippers in a
move that all but announced
that Westbrook would be
gone next, it made sense
that teaming up with Harden
again would be an option.
That makes for a nice
story: former teammates
getting back together.
These versions of West-
brook and Harden, however,
have never been teammates
before.
They were kids when
they spent the first three
seasons of Harden’s career
together in Oklahoma City.
They were making around
$4 million a year, not $4
million a month. West-
brook was just becoming an
All-Star, Harden hadn’t yet
reached that level. And they
had Durant on those OKC
teams, the last of which was
good enough to get to the
NBA Finals and get swiftly
taken out by Miami in five
games.
There’s no Durant this
time to help their cause.
Plus, sure, they spent
those three years together in
Oklahoma City, but Hard-
en’s role was so much differ-
ent then. He and Westbrook
started together in seven
games over those three
seasons.
Superstar duos are all the
rage right now in the NBA, a
basic necessity for any team
interested in winning a title.
Harden had them before in
Houston: It was him and
Dwight Howard for a while,
him and Paul for the last cou-
ple of years — not to men-
tion him, Paul and Carmelo
Anthony for 10 games this
past season before the Rock-
ets gave up on the ‘Melo
experiment.
None of them for Harden
The EO’s
worked as planned.
This one had better be
different, for Houston’s sake.
Westbrook only gets older
and more expensive every
year from here, meaning
if this partnership doesn’t
work it could be difficult for
the Rockets to move him and
try to create yet another star
duo for Harden. This move
means the Rockets are all in
— championship or bust.
Harden is elite but has no
rings yet.
Westbrook is elite but has
no rings yet.
They’ll be happy now
to be together again, they’ll
be all smiles at media day
in September and they will
have a super-cool handshake
to show off on national tele-
vision on opening night in
October.
Whether they’ll still be
smiling come next April,
May and June is contingent
on both of them being will-
ing to change their games in
order to make this work.
Otherwise, it’ll be the
same old results yet again.
East Oregonian
Hassan breaks
women’s mile world
record; Gatlin wins 100
MONACO (AP) —
Sifan Hassan broke the
long-standing women’s mile
record in 4 minutes, 12.33
seconds at the Herculis Dia-
mond League meeting on
Friday.
The Dutchwoman frac-
tionally beat the 4:12.56 set
in 1996 by Svetlana Mas-
terkova, a two-time Olym-
pic champion that year in
Atlanta.
Hassan knocked two
seconds off her personal
best and finished five sec-
onds clear of Britain’s Laura
Weightman.
It was the first outdoor
world record on the track so
far this year.
She reached the 1,200-
meter mark in 3:10.2 and
pushed hard to clock a
62-second closing lap at
Stade Louis II, the home of
French soccer side Monaco.
Hassan was surprised, but
thinks this result stands her
in good stead for the world
championships in Doha,
Qatar, in late September.
“The first 800 was a bit
slow, so after that I wasn’t
thinking it would be a world
record,” she said. “When I
crossed the line I was so sur-
prised. After you run the last
400 like that and set a world
record, it gives me (you)
much confidence over 5,000
... I want to double over
1,500 and 5,000 in Doha.”
In the men’s 100 meters
there was another win for
world champion Justin
Gatlin.
The 37-year-old Gat-
lin clocked 9.91 seconds to
narrowly beat Noah Lyles
in 9.92 — Gatlin’s winning
time last Friday at the Athle-
tissima Diamond League in
Lausanne.
Michael Rodgers made
it a United States podium
sweep with 10.01 for third,
having run the same time in
Lausanne.
“It’s all about putting
together a good technical
race, to use my experience.
It feels great to beat these
guys,” said Gatlin, the 2004
Olympic champion. “This
season is surreal; I can’t
believe I’m still winning
here. Noah is a great runner,
so every time I race him I’m
excited.”
In other men’s results,
Steven Gardiner of the
Bahamas won the 400
meters in 44.51 seconds;
Nijel Amos of Botswana
clinched the 800 in 1:41.89
— the world-leading time
this year — and Moroccan
runner Soufiane El Bakkali
won the 3,000 steeplechase
in 8:04.82, another best for
the year.
Poland’s Piotr Lisek also
had a year-leading 6.02
meters in pole vault and Ger-
many’s Andreas Hofmann
won the javelin throw with
87.84 meters.
“I didn’t expect 6.02. It’s
almost a dream,” said Lisek,
who also set a personal best.
“I’ve been injury free this
year and 100% healthy.”
Christian Taylor won the
triple jump in 17.82 meters
ahead of U.S. countryman
Will Claye, 17.75.
The U.S. got another 1-2
in the women’s 400 hurdles,
with Sydney McLaughlin
(53.32 seconds) comfortably
beating Ashley Spencer
(54.46). Meanwhile, coun-
trywoman Kendra Harri-
son ran 12.43 to win the
women’s 100 hurdles ahead
of Jamaica’s Danielle Wil-
liams (12.52) with both hav-
ing season’s bests.
Shaunae
Miller-Uibo
secured another victory
for the Bahamas, this time
in the 200 meters, clock-
ing 22.09 seconds to beat
Olympic champion Elaine
Thompson of Jamaica,
22.44.
Two-time defending world
champion Mariya Lasitskene
of Russia, competing as a neu-
tral athlete, won the high jump
with 2 meters.
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