NBA Wednesday: Celtics blast Blazers, Clippers come back to stun Thunder

The Houston Rockets have a well-established history of going to all lengths to distract opponents from shooting free throws successfully. They haven’t quite faked a birth of a fully grown person, but they’ve done some weird things.

Wednesday is Dr. Seuss’ birthday, which meant the Rockets’ distractors were back and in theme.

First, there was The Side Eye. Then, The I’m-So-Glad-I-Didn’t-Just-Kick-You-In-The-Groin Face. Now, Harden has graced us with this gem after he was asked about the Rockets going 3-of-34 shooting from behind the arc in Wednesday’s game.

Majestic. Many have tried to imitate the greatness, but only Harden can do The Harden Face quite like that. Once more:

Kobe Bryant sat out for most of the Lakers’ second half against the Nuggets while a wave of fans in Denver chanted “We want Kobe.” They didn’t get what they wanted, but the Nuggets did get the W. And a few luckier fans got something even better.

Since Kobe had all the time in the world to rest his shoulder in the fourth quarter, he took off his shoes, signed them, and handed them to a nearby fan. He also had a pair brought out from the locker room to give out as well.

Slam Dunk Contest: Aaron Gordon is the best runner-up ever

Be sure to subscribe to SB Nation’s YouTube channel for highlight videos, features, analysis and more

Vince Carter is one of the oldest players currently playing in the NBA, yet he can dunk better than most of them. Just look at what he did against the Sacramento Kings on Wednesday night.

While his defender wasn’t looking, he snuck past the three-point line and all the way into the paint to receive a nice alley-oop pass which, in typical Vince Carter fashion, ended in a highlight reel-worthy slam.

That’s no way to treat your elders, Willie.

Lillard didn’t quite have the gall to just launch it, though. Because the first quarter was ending, Boston chose to intentionally foul one of Portland’s poor free throw shooters -- that was, they accomplished a hack while also putting the final shot back in their favor. But if Lillard is in the act of shooting as the foul happens, the shot would count and the player who was fouled would take one additional free throw. The referees ruled that the whistle came first, but it was very, very close.

Either way, smart play by Lillard, who nearly netted a four-point play simply because he had his head up and recognized Boston yelling “foul!”. And that shot, as nonchalantly as he put it up there, is just absurd. So casual, so easy, just like Curry would do. Lillard isn’t Curry, but boy is he trying.

“He’s calling me and telling me he’s never coming to another game and we suck. Just don’t want to hear that. I pointed to the owner and told him you deal with that with him, maybe you can get your money back.”

“It gets frustrating,” Anthony said to reporters Tuesday night. “The losing gets frustrating, disappointing. The way that we ended that game was disappointing. At that point I think my head was in the towel. I was just trying to breathe, just try to relax, kind of gather myself a little bit at that point.”