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By: Forrest Walker
It's time for the All-Star break, a good week-long breather in which the sport of basketball is celebrated and teams can forget about stupid losses. The Rockets, minus Dwight Howard and Terrence Jones, lost a stupid game to the Clippers, minus Blake Griffin. Why did the Rockets lose this game? Oh, so many reasons. There's a huge pile of causes for a loss that was equal parts disappointing and boring. They all sort of combine together like Voltron to point their sword at Houston's 1-11 record vs the Clippers in the past four seasons.
James Harden, true to form, had a terrible game. No, not his everyday amazing form, his form against the Los Angeles Clippers. His 3-12 shooting actually brought down his career 35% field goal percentage against the Clips, and missing all 7 threes of course lowered his 25% three point shooting. The Clippers seem to have Harden's number, or he just happens to always be massively hung over in Los Angeles, or he always has food poisoning or something, because his numbers are abysmal against this team. His 5 rebounds and 6 assists were mediocre for him, and his 3 steals were the only part of the night worth remembering for him. The quicker he drops this 9 point outing from his memory, the better.
It may be better that the whole team collectively wipes this out of their minds. As a team they shot an alarming 9-45 from downtown, a stat which is at once audacious and unbelievable. They actually shot better than the Clippers from deep, but LA decided to leave it at 4-22. They shot 60% from two point range and still shot 39% overall compared to LA's 48%. After keeping the game close throughout, the Clippers pulled ahead in the fourth quarter when the Rockets simply went cold. The shots were open, the shots were often, and the shots were rimming out over and over.
Houston chose to hack DeAndre Jordan late in the game, buying some time and giving up less than a point per possession to the Clippers during the process. Unfortunately, drawing the game out only helps if you can score, and the Rockets' offense generated 4 points in the same time it took Jordan to hit 4 free throws (out of 10 to that point). The Rockets clearly looked like the more exhausted team, though the Clippers' recent road trip had been grueling as well. It would have been a godsend to win that game, and nothing being sent to the Rockets tonight was holy in the least.
Kostas Papnikolaou was useful in ways other than scoring (1-5, 4 points, gross), and his one handed touch pass to a streaking Trevor Ariza on the break was a thing of beauty. He's been filling in admirably for Terrence Jones, and it's a little surprising that he's not getting more burn in general.
Josh Smith had another solid game, as was at times the only thing standing between the Rockets and devastation. He had 21 points on 8-17 shooting with 13 rebounds, 4 assists, a steal and a block to go along with it. His comrade in arms Corey Brewer led the team in points with 22, and he only took 15 shots to get there. Those two players were the only sources of joy for a Rockets team mired deep in a mediocre evening.
A look at the rest of the Rockets' box score might result in a migraine, so I'll spare everyone that pain. Suffice it to say that Donatas Motiejunas may have had the best night of the starting lineup and he had 12 points on 11 shots. Yes, Ariza had nice peripherals. He always has nice peripherals. Unfortunately they were both pulled into some sort of spacetime distortion with everyone not wearing a headband.
A basketball game happened, and then it ended, and now the Rockets have the same record as the Blazers again, because of course they do, because nothing else could possibly happen. If there's one takeaway from this game, it's that we should be thankful that this game is over, and hope against hope that the Rockets don't meet the Clippers in the playoffs.
