Los Angeles Clippers vs. Houston Rockets: Game 2 Grades and Analysis
James Harden scored 32 points, Dwight Howard had 24 points and 16 rebounds and the Houston Rockets rallied to defeat the Los Angeles Clippers, 115-109, at the Toyota Center Wednesday night to even up their second-round Western Conference playoff series, 1-1.
Chris Paul missed his second consecutive game with a hamstring injury.
The Rockets jumped on the Clippers early, taking a 35-24 lead after the first quarter. However, Los Angeles quickly rebounded, out-scoring Houston 41-21 in the second period to take a 65-56 advantage into halftime.
Blake Griffin was the catalyst, scoring 26 points in the first half. He finished with 34.
The Clippers continued their onslaught early on in the third quarter and stretched their lead to 13 in front of a stunned Rockets crowd.
But, Houston fought back.
Behind 20 second-half points from Harden, the Rockets out-scored the Clippers 59-44 over the final 24 minutes.
Houston won in spite of a paltry offensive performance. It shot just 43 percent from the floor and went only 5-of-26 from three-point range. Plus, it missed 22 free throws, going 42-of-64 from the charity stripe.
Rockets head coach Kevin McHale was not happy with all of the missed foul shots, per James Starks of KPRC Local 2:
McHale also feels his team needs to take better care of the basketball, per Starks:
Houston committed 14 turnovers in Game 2.
Los Angeles shot 45 percent overall. It went 6-of-25 from long distance and 25-of-32 from the free-throw line.
Clippers coach Doc Rivers was not thrilled about his team's lack of ball movement, per Leslie Koerdt of Sports Radio 610 in Houston:
As far as Paul goes, Rivers is unsure of his status for Game 3, per Adam Wexler of KPRC-TV:
Game 3 is Friday night at the Staples Center at 10:30 p.m. ET. Catch the action on ESPN.
| Blake Griffin | A+ |
| DeAndre Jordan | A |
| J.J. Redick | C |
| Matt Barnes | D |
| Jamal Crawford | F |
| Rest of Team | D |
| James Harden | A- |
| Dwight Howard | A- |
| Josh Smith | C- |
| Trevor Ariza | B+ |
| Terrence Jones | B- |
| Rest of Team | B- |
Los Angeles Clippers
Blake Griffin: A+
Griffin put on a show in the first half.
The star forward dropped 26 points over the first two quarters, demonstrating an array of post moves and burying mid-range jumpers with impunity.
The Rockets had no answer for him in the early going.
Then, the second half came around.
Griffin scored just eight points over the final 24 minutes and looked gassed. He forced up some difficult looks inside and may have certainly been fatigued from battling for positioning all night.
He ended up with 34 points and 15 rebounds, shooting 13-of-23 from the floor. It was a truly outstanding performance.
It's just a shame he had little to nothing left in the tank for the stretch run.
DeAndre Jordan: A
DeAndre Jordan was terrific.
The center posted 16 points and 12 rebounds and was a force on both ends of the floor. He made all six of his field-goal attempts and even went 4-of-6 from the free-throw line, taking Hack-a-Jordan out of the equation for most of the night (the Rockets used it once late in the game).
Defensively, Jordan did a tremendous job on Howard, preventing him from getting position for garbage buckets and also playing solid post defense. There was one instance where Howard attempted to take a hook shot, but Jordan swatted it out of bounds.
J.J. Redick: C
J.J. Redick has struggled quite a bit with his shot this postseason, and it continued in Game 2.
Redick made only three of his 10 field-goal tries, going 2-of-6 from three-point range. He got a few good looks coming off screens, but he was not able to convert.
That being said, he did a very impressive job on Harden defensively in the first half, chasing him all over the court and making sure he stayed attached to the 2-guard at all times.
Thanks to his defensive effort, his offensive output gets a pass. Somewhat, anyway.
Redick scored 12 points.
Matt Barnes: D
Matt Barnes had a brutal offensive performance.
He went just 2-of-7 from the floor, missing all five of his three-point tries. Most of them were very clean looks, too.
Defensively, Barnes saw some action on Harden and did a decent job, using his length and tenacity to really make the Rockets star work.
Still, it's not like he expended so much energy defending Harden where he can use it as an excuse for his inefficiency on the offensive end.
Barnes had six points, six rebounds and five assists. He fouled out in 34 minutes.
Jamal Crawford: F
It's possible that Jamal Crawford may have shot Los Angeles out of this game.
The wildly inconsistent sixth man shot just 6-of-22, going 1-of-8 from downtown. He missed 10 of his first 11 shots and wasted possessions by firing up long jumpers early in the shot clock.
Crawford also had three of his shots blocked.
He scored 19 points, but scoring 19 points on 22 shots is nothing to be proud of.
Rest of Team: D
Support from the Clippers role players was rather limited.
Austin Rivers got the start in place of the injured Paul. He scored 10 points off 4-of-9 shooting and had a couple of nice drives to the rack. However, he committed five fouls and got a little too fancy with his dribble and lost the ball out of bounds late in the contest.
Lester Hudson provides the team with some good energy off the bench, displaying good activity defensively and doing a solid job of getting Los Angeles going in transition. He had five points and was a plus-nine in 11 minutes.
Glen Davis scored four points and drew a charge, and Hedo Turkoglu had three points and four fouls in seven minutes.
Houston Rockets
James Harden: A-
Harden got off to a slow start in this one, but the bona fide scorer exploded in the second half.
The 2-guard scored 20 of his 32 points over the final 24 minutes. He drained triples, fooled Clippers defenders and got to the basket and got to the free-throw line at will.
Harden shot only 7-of-17 and went 3-of-10 from long range, but he made all 15 of his foul shots and had the Los Angeles defense on its heels.
What was most impressive about Harden's performance was that he fought foul trouble for most of the evening and actually sat out most of the third quarter because of it.
Harden did, however, commit seven turnovers, five of those coming in the first half.
Dwight Howard: A-
Howard was dominant.
The big man posted 24 points and 16 rebounds, throwing down alley-oop dunks at will and controlling the glass on both ends.
Howard also served as a fine rim-deterrent, blocking three shots and making the Clippers think twice about taking it to the basket.
Dwight shot 8-of-11 from the floor. He struggled mightily from the free-throw line, however, going just 8-of-21. That prevents him from getting a full "A."
Josh Smith: C-
Josh Smith's impact was limited.
In 17 minutes, he scored eight points off an inefficient 3-of-9 clip, misfiring badly on a lone wide-open three-pointer. Smith also went just 2-of-6 from the free-throw line.
He was decent on the glass, grabbing six rebounds, but that was about all Smith contributed in Game 2.
Trevor Ariza: B+
Trevor Ariza went just 4-of-12 from the field, but he was so great in other facets of the game that that was acceptable.
Ariza tallied 15 points and 13 rebounds, despite being forced to play out of his element for part of the night.
What I mean by that was that Ariza was forced to guard Griffin for stretches during this game, and he did a phenomenal job. He fronted Griffin, fought him for positioning and made sure he communicated with his teammates to get help on the back side.
Ariza also did a fine job of getting to the free-throw line, making six of his seven foul shots.
Terrence Jones: B-
You have to appreciate the scrappiness of Terrence Jones.
He wasn't efficient offensively in Game 2, making only four of his 10 shots, but he recorded 10 points and eight rebounds and blocked three shots. Three of his boards came on the offensive end.
Jones stayed aggressive throughout the contest, showing no fear on either side of the floor.
I would like to see him get some alley-oop lobs, though.
Rest of Team: B-
Corey Brewer did not shoot the ball well, going 4-of-11 from the floor and just 3-of-6 from the charity stripe, but his energy was contagious.
The wing defended multiple positions on the floor and did it well, getting into the Clippers players and forcing them into tough looks.
Jason Terry gave Houston a lift, too, scoring 10 points off a 3-of-6 clip, six of those points coming during the crucial third quarter.
Pablo Prigioni brought some veteran savvy to the table, tallying five points and four assists and drawing a huge charge on Redick in the fourth period.
