James Harden: 'Who Cares' About Shooting Woes in Game 5 Win

James Harden doesn't care about his shooting percentage as long as the Houston Rockets keep winning in the playoffs.

"Who cares?" Harden told reporters following the Rockets' 98-94 victory over the Golden State Warriors in Game 5 of the Western Conference Finals on Thursday.

Harden did point out he is impacting the game in other ways as he tries to shoot his way out of his offensive struggles.

"I'm just missing shots," he said. "But we're winning, and I'm trying to compete on the defensive end and do other things to help my team win. But if we've got a guy like Eric Gordon [6-of-15, 3-of-10 from three, 9-of-10 from the line] making shots and being aggressive, who cares?"

The win gave Houston a 3-2 series lead, putting the Rockets one victory away from reaching the NBA Finals for the first time since the 1994-95 season.

Despite the Rockets' success, Harden has struggled to find his shot since scoring 41 points in Game 1. The regular-season MVP front-runner is connecting on 36.8 percent of his attempts in the past four games (32-of-87), including missing 20 straight three-point attempts dating back to Game 4.

In Game 5, he went 5-of-21 from the field (0-of-11 from three), although he was 9-of-9 from the line. He finished with 19 points, three rebounds, four assists and two steals with six turnovers.

The Rockets will have an opportunity to close out the Warriors in Game 6 on Saturday at Oracle Arena.