The first half of the game between the Houston Rockets and L.A. Clippers on Wednesday was a one-sided affair, with the visiting team dominating the action as they ended up leading 61-43 after the first 24 minutes. However, there was no other play that summarized better how the Rockets dominated the Los Angeles team than James Harden’s crossover that broke Wesley Johnson’s ankles. To add insult to injury, Harden stared Johnson down before converting on a 3-pointer.
The Rockets bench erupted and the players celebrated The Beard’s highlight-worthy play. Even the crowd inside Staples Center were left in awe of his move. The Twitterverse also reacted to it by posting some hilarious tweets and GIFs, which showed how entertained they were with what they saw.
NBA Twitter reaction to James Harden breaking Wesley Johnson ankles pic.twitter.com/60TdOMERp4
— Josiah Johnson (@KingJosiah54) March 1, 2018
Wesley Johnson to his teammates, after James Harden crossed him into next century pic.twitter.com/iIvFdtEdqR
— NOTSportsCenter (@NOTSportsCenter) March 1, 2018
https://twitter.com/_Myleshigh/status/969064334767816704
https://twitter.com/tigercranestyle/status/969069951708487686
Also James harden sent Wesley Johnson back to Syracuse with that ankle breaker lmao
— Laieke Abebe (@StrikaNation24_) March 1, 2018
https://twitter.com/AmeenaRasheed/status/969062670111567872
https://twitter.com/BasedChasen/status/969066937438253056
The move is expected to be much talked about even in the coming days, as it was truly one of the most disrespectful plays of the season. While it can be argued that Harden got away with a little nudge on the Clippers forward, Johnson clearly fell to the floor because of his momentum.
One could only imagine what Johnson felt after being stared down and getting victimized by Harden. He will most likely receive more funny reactions on social media, and even be trolled for dropping to the floor because of the wicked crossover.
Furthermore, Harden’s game-long effort appears to be carrying the Rockets to a victory and a double-black eye on the part of Johnson, who might still be looking for his dignity as of this writing.