Man, gotta tell ya about this rabbit hole I fell into yesterday. Totally unplanned. Was cleaning out some old hard drives, you know? Trying to organize years of digital junk. Folders labeled “Misc Videos,” “Old Downloads,” pure chaos.
Then I see it – this folder called “NBA Old Stuff.” No clue when I dumped it there. Double-clicked and boom! A bunch of blurry video files stared back. One caught my eye: something like “HOU_Rockets1617_moments_roughcut.” Didn’t remember it at all. Curiosity kicked in. Clicked play.
Whoa. Right off the bat, it’s James Harden. Young Beardy James, dancing all over the court. The memory just flooded back. This was that year, ’16-17. The year he officially became a Point Guard God. I hadn’t seen some of this stuff in ages.
So, I dragged the video file into my editing software. Grainy, shaky phone footage mixed with broadcast clips I must’ve grabbed ages ago. My goal? Just stitch together the bits that still gave me goosebumps. Simple edit.
Let me tell you, watching that rough cut felt like time travel:
- First thing that hit me? Harden’s court vision was INSANE. Seriously. That no-look, behind-the-back dime to Capela cutting baseline? How?! Saw the lane open for less than a second before the pass was already gone. Wizards stuff.
- Then there was Eric Gordon draining threes from the parking lot. Legitimately from another zip code. Corner catch-and-shoot, bam. Off the dribble, step-back, swish. The guy was on fire every time he popped up on screen.
- Clint Capela flying for lobs. Young Clint! Before the injuries. Just pure springy legs and big hands. Harden would toss it anywhere near the rim, and woosh, Clint would somehow grab it and slam it down. Crazy athleticism.
- The toughness. Like P.J. Tucker diving after every loose ball like his life depended on it. First game with the Rockets, scrambling for a ball against the Spurs. Textbook Tucker. Energy for days.
- Remember that comeback against the Warriors? Down 20 at halftime? My footage cuts to the third quarter. Bang! Bang! Bang! Three after three after three. Harden, Gordon, Ariza, Beverly… just raining fire. The Oracle Arena crowd noise going quiet… priceless.
Editing was mostly just trimming fluff, syncing a bit of energy music underneath the action plays – nothing fancy, couldn’t find the original mic audio track. Got so into it, ended up watching the entire rough sequence twice over. Accidentally hit delete on a clip I didn’t wanna lose. Cussed a bit. Had to go digging again. Worth it though.
Finished it late last night. Just sat back after hitting export. Man, that team was FUN. Yeah, the ending sucked big time (thanks, Spurs…), no Finals trip. But the regular season? Pure offensive fireworks. Harden MVP magic. Guys bought in, ran hard, shot a ton of threes. That ’16-17 run was special, peak D’Antoni-ball before things got… complicated later on.
Felt good hitting save on that project file. Like preserving a little piece of fun history that just kinda existed forgotten on an old drive. Makes you appreciate how wild that regular season really was.
