Unless that team is the San Antonio Spurs, of course, who on Thursday earned a Western Conference finals showdown with Golden State with a 39-point romp over Houston - on the road no less. "It wasn't one guy scoring 40 points", said Spurs coach Gregg Popovich.
The Spurs already were without Tony Parker, who will miss the rest of the playoffs after surgery to fix a ruptured left quadriceps tendon.
"We couldn't get in a rhythm at the end of the game or in the overtime", Harden told reporters.
Despite having a home game in which the Spurs were missing starters Kawhi Leonard and Tony Parker, Harden was invisible for long stretches.
The San Antonio Spurs will now square off against the Golden State Warriors in the Western Conference finals.
Jonathon Simmons, who started in place of Leonard, added 18 points and Patty Mills, who started as the point guard, ended with 14 points and seven assists for the Spurs, who dominated from the opening whistle.
Harden was a non-factor Thursday after finishing second in scoring during the season at 29.1 points per game.
Dejounte Murray chipped in with 11 points, 10 rebounds, five assists and two steals off the bench and Pau Gasol had 10 points with 11 rebounds for San Antonio. But they won't have much time to celebrate their Game 6 win over the Rockets last night in Houston. "I felt better than the previous ones, for sure, but I guess the standards are a little lower".
"I was trying to keep them in front of me, " Harden said.
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According to a point spread vs moneyline conversion chart I found from The Wizard of Odds (great name), these odds are like an National Football League team being 17-point underdogs (so, say the Browns playing the Patriots in New England). "Everything falls on my shoulders".
Yes, that means Popovich has defeated every single Western Conference team in the playoffs since he took over as the Spurs' head coach back in 1996.
"It's going to be tough", Spurs forward LaMarcus Aldridge said. It was Aldridge's best offensive game since May 2, 2016 when he scored 41 points in a playoff win against the Oklahoma City Thunder.
What the world didn't know going into game six, was that James Harden also wouldn't show up to play, at least not mentally.
The Spurs will next face the Golden State Warriors, starting Sunday. In the first quarter of what turned out to be an elimination game, Harden took ZERO field goals (just two free throws, which he made), and had more turnovers (3) than he had assists (2).
"If it's OK with you guys, what just happened, it happens", D'Antoni said before attempting to shift the focus to the Rockets' success during a 55-win season.
The Spurs opened the third quarter with an 8-1 run, with six points from Aldridge, to extend their already big lead to 69-43 with about 9 1/2 minutes left.
Harden accepted some of the blame for the loss. The Spurs won a series and the Warriors won a series, back in 1991.
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