James Harden almost took the game for Houston. Almost, but not quite.

Instead, he lost the ball in the dying seconds as Golden State's Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson harassed him relentlessly until the buzzer sounded amidst the ear-splitting cheers of the Oracle Arena fans.

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With that, the Warriors outlasted the Rockets, 99-98, to take a 2-0 series lead in their best-of-seven Western Conference Finals series.

Harden led Houston back from a 17-point deficit in the second quarter to pull within a point, 98-99, with 33 seconds left in the clock. It proved to be the final score as neither teams made a bucket for the rest of the game as time expired.

Harrison Barnes had a chance to extend the lead to three, but he missed a reverse layup amid Dwight Howard's long arms with seven seconds remaining in the game.

Harden grabbed the rebound, but Rockets' Head Coach Kevin McHale elected not to call a timeout to take advantage of Golden State's unprepared defense as his main man ran down the court with the clock slowly ticking away.

Thompson, the other half of the Splash Brothers, quickly met Harden near the half court line to stop him from going all the way to the basket. Then Curry came over to help trap Harden as time expired.

The Warriors led by as much as 17 points in the second quarter, 49-32, on a Barnes triple 7:43 remaining in the half.

But Harden rallied the Rockets, scoring 12 of his game-high 38 points in that stretch to tie the game at halftime, 55-all.

It was a back-and-forth affair from then on as neither team didn't let up. Harden was responsible for the Rockets final ten points, making five free throws, one three-pointer, a slam dunk, and an alley-oop assist to Dwight Howard until the mad scramble at the end.

Although Curry was still the cornerstone of Golden State's offense with 33 points, it was a total team effort as three other Warriors scored in double digits, Thompson with 13, Andrew Bogut with 14, and Draymond Green with 12.

The Rockets will try to cut the deficit in Game 3 at home on Saturday, 9 p.m. E.T.

TagsNBA 2015, NBA Playoffs, NBA Playoffs 2015, NBA news, Golden State Warriors, James Harden, Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson