By: Forrest Walker
The Houston Rockets won their first two tilts against the Los Angeles Clippers, but lost the third time in overtime on the second night of a road back to back. The game wasn't pretty, and it wasn't a win, but ultimately it wasn't bad. There was a lot to hate about a game that the Rockets will probably kick themselves for giving away, but in the end it was probably a better sign for the team than their win the previous night.
Before we move on, let's address this; Dwight Howard went out there and conquered. He always gets up for Los Angeles because Los Angeles always gets up for him. He was like John Henry, toiling until his heart exploded in vain against a machine that never misses. Is 36 points on 11-16 shooting good? That seems good. He grabbed how many rebounds? 26? 10 of them on offense? 4 assists and 14-18 on free throws? All of this is nuclear fusion level performance, and just what the Rockets need. He's changing shots on defense and finishing hard at the rim on offense. This may have been his most "Superman" game of his Rockets career.
Despite all of that, however, the Rockets were down big late in the game. In the third, the game threatened to widen into a full-on blowout. Houston had to pull out a 42-28 fourth quarter to tie the game, and much of that comeback came at the end of the game on a miracle run keyed by Marcus Thornton and some logic-defying three point shots. The Rockets as a group missed approximately seven hundred wide open looks in the first half, which isn't surprising given that they just spent two consecutive days playing basketball in Los Angeles.
James Harden and Terrence Jones in particular looked gassed, missing free throw after free throw and shot after shot off the front of the rim. Jones played his way out of the game, partially by tipping the ball into Houston's own basket in a game which went to overtime. Harden hit a mere 5-12 from the field and missed 5 of his 13 free throws, something which again might have helped in an overtime loss.
Speaking of free throws, the Rockets took 52. They hit 33. Not to beat a dead horse, but... overtime loss. 19 misses at the charity stripe. The Clippers took a "mere" 33 free throws, but this was mostly because they weren't attacking at all. Instead, they were just hitting every three pointer to build their double-digit lead. They ended up 22-37 from behind the arc, and this was after they cooled off significantly from the first quarter, in which they hit 7 of 10 tries. JJ Redick was their hero, hitting 9 threes and scoring 40 for the team. Perhaps the team needed to guard him better (the team definitely needed to guard him better), or perhaps the Clippers simply has an amazing shooting night. Either way, the game went to them.
However, this is a loss the Rockets can take some pride in. They turned it on and powered through a game which would have been easy to give up on. They survived so many bad misses and so many bad plays on the way to a thrilling overtime conclusion. They made a Clippers team that just won 10 in a row play above their heads to beat them, and the Rockets couldn't shoot due to exhaustion. The Rockets aren't a contender right now, but they don't look too far removed from that sub-contender pack on nights they take seriously. Only the Golden State Warriors and San Antonio Spurs have a realistic shot to win a title, but the Rockets could at least make a little noise if they can build on gritty games like this.
This loss wasn't what the Rockets wanted, and Patrick Beverley aggravated his ankle in the process. There's a lot to recriminate about after this game. But even so, there was a lot to like for a team that needs to find anything to take justified pride in. There are bad wins and good losses, and it's very possible the Rockets just had one of each in the span of two days.
