NBA Playoffs 2015: TV Info, Predictions for Rockets-Clippers Game 7
Only one conference semifinals series needs the full seven games, with the Houston Rockets and Los Angeles Clippers due to clash Sunday afternoon.
Los Angeles once held a 3-1 series lead, but that feels like a lifetime ago after Houston won Game 5 by 21 points and then outscored the Clippers 40-15 in the fourth quarter en route to a 12-point Game 6 win. For LA and, particularly, Chris Paul, who's unfairly knocked for his team's early playoff exits, bowing out in the second round will be a massive disappointment.
| Sun., May 17 | 3:30 p.m. | ABC | Watch ESPN |
For both teams, the result of Game 7 might serve as the tipping-off point for a busy offseason of personnel moves. Both teams are angling to prove they can win as currently constructed and don't necessitate any tweaks in order to contend.
Bleacher Report's Kevin Ding wrote that the nature of the Clippers' Game 6 collapse illustrated a few of the aspects of his game in which Blake Griffin needs to work:
"But then the Clippers lost control in areas Griffin hasn't grown as much in as others: mental toughness, closing games, facing up and creating his own shots, defense.
Some of the very same issues cropped up in rough first-round moments against San Antonio, another full-length series that Griffin often dominated but in which Paul needed to push to get the Clippers to the finish.
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On the other side, James Harden has something to prove after his up-and-down performance in the series. Houston also played extremely well in the fourth quarter of Game 6 without him on the floor.
"I was a cheerleader. I was one of their biggest supporters," he said, per Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle. "I was so excited for those guys. The energy they brought was unbelievable. I could have checked back in, but those guys had it rolling on both ends of the floor. Mac didn’t call my name and I didn’t try to check myself into the game."
Holly MacKenzie of Sportsnet felt the quarter helped close the book and any lingering Most Valuable Player debates:
As much as the stars will drive the narrative Sunday, the performance of the bit-part players might determine the outcome of the game.
Josh Smith, Terrence Jones and Corey Brewer combined for 54 points in Game 6, while the six Clippers players not named Griffin, Paul or J.J. Redick scored a total of 33 points. The story was largely the same in Game 5, with Brewer, Jones and Trevor Ariza scoring in double figures.
Compare that to the Clippers' last two wins, which respectively featured a 25-point outburst from Austin Rivers and 26 points from DeAndre Jordan—11.5 PPG scorer in regular season.
Neither team has an extremely deep bench, but just a little bit of production goes a long way to easing the burden on stars like Paul, Griffin, Harden and Dwight Howard.
Nothing in this series makes sense anymore. The Clippers won Game 1 on the road without Paul and then managed to beat Houston by a combined 58 points. Then, the Rockets hammer Los Angeles in the fourth quarter of Game 6 on the road and completely change the complexion of the matchup.
Home-court advantage has proven to be somewhat ineffectual so far, but it's hard to bet against Houston in the Toyota Center on Sunday. Plus, the Clippers' thin bench might finally be catching up with them. Rivers can only have so many double-digit scoring games.
Prediction: Houston 112, Los Angeles 103
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