Houston Rockets take off during the Western Conference

James Harden didn’t have his usual high-scoring game, but he did make a difference as his Houston Rockets eliminated the Oklahoma City Thunder, 104-102, in a back-and-forth Western Conference game seven of the National Basketball Association playoffs Wednesday night at the ESPN Wide World of Sports in Lake Buena Vista, Fla.

Favored Houston, the 4th-seed, had to go to the deciding game of the best-of-7 conference semifinals getting past 6th-seeded Oklahoma City and advance to the next round against the top-seeded Los Angeles Lakers and that will start Friday.

Then there was the upset-minded Miami Heat, the 4th seed in the Eastern Conference, beginning its series with the Milwaukee Bucks, the overall top seed, and coming away with a well-earned 116-114 victory behind guard Goran Dragic, forward Bam Adebayo, and the versatile Jimmy Butler.

Butler, who has been the main man for Miami in the playoffs, settled for 13 points, three rebounds and a team-high six assists. Adebayo was tops in rebounds with nine, and included 15 points, and Dragic found the range for 23 points, brought down five boards and dished out four assists.

It was the usual strong outside shooting for the Heat as it made good on 14 3s in 31 tries, with Dragic tossing in five and also converting 5-of-5 free throws. It was Miami taking charge in the opening quarter and leading 38-29. By halftime, it was 66-59, and then 90-85 after three quarters.

But Milwaukee wasn’t going away. Led by Most Valuable Player Giannis Antetokounmpo’s game highs of 29 points and 14 boards, the Bucks trailed 112-106 when Antetokounmpo when on a run to trim the gap to 112-110, but Miami hung on to shut Milwaukee down, with the Bucks also getting 23 points, six rebounds and a team-high eight assists.

The  teams play again Friday night.

Harden scored only 17 points, well below his playoff average of 26.5 points per game, but he was there to block the corner shot by Luguentz Dort, the lone player in the NBA who wasn’t drafted, in the final seconds. It  involved a controversy when OKC’s Chris Paul insisted he called a time out before the attempted shot by Dort, but the play stood, the Thunder got its time out, but Houston got the ball and ran out the clock.

Harden played 42 minutes and still paved the way with his leadership, while teammate Robert Covington had the team high of 21 points, the most rebounds, 10, and a pair of assists. Dort had a stellar game with his game-high 30 points, and Paul added 19 points and a team highs of 11 boards and a dozen assists.

This one was nip-and-tuck with a number of lead changes and ties adding to the drama of game seven. It was 30-29 Thunder after one quarter and 61-59 at the intermission. Houston was up 85-81 heading into the fourth quarter, and it ended with protests from both teams, Oklahoma City ousted and the Rockets soaring into the next round.

The Rockets play game one against the Lakers Friday night.

On the Thursday menu, the surprising Boston Celtics, the 4th seed, tries to up their 2-0 series lead when they face the defending champion Toronto Raptors. In the other contest, the 3rd-seeded Denver Nuggets come off a 4-3 elimination of the Utah Jazz to meet up with the 2nd-seeded Los Angeles Clippers.