By: rahat huq
- If Patrick Beverley has been lost, you can kiss the Houston Rockets' title hopes this year goodbye. You can stick a fork in them. They don't have a chance in hell without Beverley. I guess we will find out in a few hours. When Red94 went to press, it was believed that Beverley had suffered a sprained knee with the fear being that the injury was serious. He limped to the lockerroom at the close of things last night and it didn't look good, but we will just have to wait a few more hours and see. But I'm bracing for the worst. The Rockets can still win this series without Beverley, but it will be tough doing anything else of significance.
- Isn't it funny how your whole world can change just at the drop of a hat? One minute, the Rockets were coasting to a Game 1 victory, nursing a double digit lead with less than five minutes remaining, having absorbed a historic night from the Blazers' best player while their own two stars didn't have their best games...and the next, they are down 0-1, having coughed up the home court advantage and possibly facing the impending news that they have lost their starting point guard.
- Dwight Howard might have had the most unimpressive game of anyone in the history of anyone who has ever scored 27 points and pulled down 15 boards. The Rockets completely crumbled offensively down the stretch, as they have been prone to do, also making critical errors defensively...but make no mistake, that game completely turned when the Blazers went to the Hack-a-Howard, killing Houston's momentum and obviously stopping the clock while the Blazers clawed their way back in. There should be no question left: the next time Portland employs the strategy, Howard should be yanked immediately, unless he's demonstrated a consistent stroke already at the line on the night. Now is not the time to worry about hurt feelings. If you can't hit your freebies, you sit, because otherwise, you are hurting the team. The problem for McHale is that, for his part, Howard was otherwise dominant protecting the paint. With the big man out of the game, the lane looked like the Red Sea upon Moses' arrival and the Blazers wasted no time taking the ball straight to the rim.
- Offensively, Howard went 9-21 overall, facing single coverage from Robin Lopez and failing to capitalize. He repeatedly missed gimmes at the rim or overall looked awkward upon seeing late double teams. There really isn't any point in wasting breath furthering this point as I've made it all year: Howard is who he is. You hope, nay, you need him to destroy these types of fellas to the tune of numbers the likes of which Aldridge just put up when he faces single coverage. We saw it all year. He couldn't dominate Steven Adams, DeAndre Jordan and of course, there was the Bargnani game which I'm still trying to erase from my memory. In a playoff game, if a team is going to dare to put Robin Lopez on Howard without a double team, he needs to obliterate them. But I sound like Shaq now because...he can't. That's just not who he is. And Charles Barkley is right. This is who Dwight Howard is and we just have to accept that. If we forget about the missed free throws (kind of hard to just brush under the rug, I know), this was a pretty good game for Dwight's standards. So I can't really complain. It sucks that that is where the bar has been set now but, what else do you want me to say?
- There was one thing I was sure of more than anything entering this series/the postseason and that was that Terrence Jones would have no business being on the court. He really surprised me last night, scoring 12 points and pulling down 13 boards, energizing the team with some primetime hustle plays. But despite the production, I'm afraid I may have been right regarding my earlier prediction as Jones just didn't stand a chance against LaMarcus Aldridge. I haven't felt that hopeless about a matchup since a) whoever Chuck Hayes wasn't guarding out of Bynum/Gasol (ie: whoever Luis Scola was guarding) and b) Kenny Smith on Kevin Johnson in the '95 West semis. Aldridge facing Jones was like watching some jerk taking candy from a small child and was what I had feared at the trade deadline when I said I didn't trust the sophomore power forward. As I've been saying all year, Jones, despite some tantalizing talents, just isn't ready to play with the big boys. He can feast on the Bucks of the world, but this is the f****** Western Conference playoffs, man. Rebounds in traffic and those crossovers I vined for you all last night are nice but at the end of the day, you have to be a man to survive down there. This point will be lost on all but the most diehard of observers, but I'd actually give Motiejunas a short look in Game 2 as, on the year, not only were his post-defense numbers tremendous, but so were the Rockets' measurements as a unit with the Lithuanian on the floor. It's worth a look, I think. Most people would laugh at that suggestion, given the stereotypes surrounding the foreigner, and his overall goofy tendencies such as tripping over his own legs, but most people didn't really pay attention during the year.
- The weirdest thing about Aldridge's night was that despite the fact Aldridge wasn't doubled, Blazers shooters always seemed open. I guess I shouldn't be surprised by defensive miscues by the Rockets. But why not give Aldridge a different look from time to time? Send a late double or something the way everyone does to Dwight? I know asking for that kind of creativity might be a bit much but we're down 0-1 here.
- There was one play on offense which was particular egregious and indicative of the Rockets' executional deficiencies (okay, there were several plays in particular, but one coming to mind right now) where Terrence Jones dribbled out like half the shot clock trying to get the ball to James Harden.
- Despite a particularly embarrassing play where he kicked the ball of his own leg in a "that would happen" kind of moment late in the game, Jeremy Lin was solid, getting to the basket seemingly at will down the stretch when matched up with Mo Williams. I would have liked to have seen Lin get more opportunities but I also can live with the decision to run everything through Harden: He's James Harden and despite having a poor game, you have to live and die with him. But Lin's play was very encouraging as the Blazers didn't seem to have many answers for the athletic guard. I still hold my breath every time he dribbles though and I think that is what keeps him from getting more plays. (Lin fans, stop. Just stop. I am more than aware that Harden had four turnovers to Lin's two. Harden also handled the ball twice as much and faced twice the amount of attention.) One other note though: why was Chandler Parsons guarding Damian Lillard on that late possession after Beverley was lost? I don't get that. I don't think Lin is as good a defender as Beverley by any means, but he's certainly better than Chandler Parsons. Just a dumb, dumb, decision.
- I just saw on my Twitter feed that the twenty shots Harden missed last night were the most he's missed in his career. I found that surprising. But in any event, it was not the Beard's best performance and I worry that the strategy of looking to Wes Mathews in the post as much as possible may have taken a toll. It's something to keep an eye on for the rest of this series. Here's that final play from Harden:
Here's the freeze frame of the critical moment:
http://i1283.photobucket.com/albums/a559/RedNinetyFour/Hardenfinalplay_zpsf4739ad3.png
As Harden drives, he's essentially bottled up by three Portland defenders. The Blazers hedge enough to account for Harden while also giving sufficient attention to Garcia and Terrence Jones. Perhaps Harden could have attempted to lob it over the top to Jones, but in that situation, I don't know if you want to end the game with an alleyoop attempt. I can live with a Harden midrange stepback, even against coverage - he's been hitting those all month. But I personally would have spaced the floor more keeping Jones out of the paint on that play because, he's essentially useless in that spot. There isn't enough time for an offensive rebound and Harden isn't going to pass it to him, so why have him in there at all?
