Houston Rockets' James Harden fouls in crunch time vs. Boston Celtics

Dec. 29 (UPI) -- James Harden made two terrible plays at the end of the Houston Rockets and Boston Celtics game, leading to a giveaway loss.

The Rockets watched a 26-point lead evaporate, losing Thursday's contest 99-98 at TD Garden in Boston.

Harden's squad led the Celtics 98-97 with about 7.3 seconds remaining in the game.

Rockets forward/guard Trevor Ariza ran the baseline for an inbound pass. Celtics guard Marcus Smart manned up on Harden. The Rockets star pushed off on Smart, trying to get free, but was called for an offensive foul. Harden couldn't believe the call. Smart clapped and smacked the floor in jubilation.

Celtics big man Al Horford banked in a layup off the glass to give Boston the lead with 3.7 seconds remaining. Harden grabbed the ball after the play and Smart began playing defense before the ball was even taken out of bounds for the inbound pass. A referee walked up to the two players, likely telling them to calm down.

Then it happened again.

Ariza stood on the baseline and eyed Harden for a pass. Smart was all over Harden and when the Rockets star attempted to get free, he tumbled to the floor. Harden was whistled for another offensive foul in crunch time. That violation secured the victory for Boston. Harden could only give another perplexed look to the referees after the play.

Horford missed two free throws on the resulting possession. Eric Gordon missed his 3-point attempt at the buzzer, sending the Rockets packing.

Harden put the blame on the fact that just two officials refereed the game.

Mark Lindsay did not referee, due to a bad back. That meant just Tony Brothers and Gediminas Petraitis covered the action.

"First of all, how do you only have two officials on a national TV game? That's the first question," Harden told reporters after the game. "A lot of grabbing. A lot of holding. How else am I supposed to get open? The guy has two arms wrapped around my whole body."

"We blew a lead, turned the ball over a little bit too much. And that was that."

Harden scored a game-high 34 points, to go with 10 assists and six rebounds. He also had a game-high eight turnovers.

"We were just trying to deny him the ball," Smart told Celtics.com. "When you get up in him and you give him only one way to go, it's hard; it becomes frustrating...We were trying to make it real uncomfortable for him the whole night, and he just lost it and gave me a little nudge."