Los Angeles Clippers vs. Houston Rockets: Game 7 Grades and Analysis
James Harden scored 31 points, Trevor Ariza added 22 and the Houston Rockets defeated the Los Angeles Clippers, 113-100, at the Toyota Center on Sunday afternoon to win their second-round playoff series, 4-3, and advance to the Western Conference Finals. The Rockets will face the Golden State Warriors in the next series.
Houston became just the ninth team in NBA history to rally from a 3-1 deficit to win a playoff series.
Head coach Kevin McHale said the team pulled together when things looked bleak, per Melissa Rohlin of the Los Angeles Times:
The Rockets got off to a great start, taking a 28-21 lead after the first quarter and building their advantage up to 15 points in the second period. The Clippers made a run late in the first half to trim the lead to six, but by halftime, Houston led 56-46.
Los Angeles came out on fire in the third quarter, going on an 11-4 run to cut the deficit to three. From that point on, the Rockets took over.
Behind great three-point shooting and fine bench play, Houston built a 20-point lead in the fourth quarter. The Clippers were able to cut the lead to eight with under two minutes remaining, but it was not enough.
The Rockets shot 45 percent from the floor and went 12-of-30 from three-point range. They also went 31-of-41 from the free-throw line.
McHale loved Houston's balance, per Rohlin:
By contrast, the Clippers made just seven of their 28 three-point tries and went 11-of-17 from the charity stripe. They shot 45 percent overall.
Also, Los Angeles got just 21 bench points, 17 of them coming from Jamal Crawford. The bench was an issue for the Clippers all season, and it would behoove them to address it going forward. If Los Angeles wants to be a real title contender, it needs to add some reserves who can consistently score the basketball.
As you would expect, head coach Doc Rivers was devastated after the game, but he is looking forward to next season, per Kevin Merida of the Washington Post:
Rivers is confident his group will get over the playoff hump eventually, per Merida:
With the loss, Rivers became the first coach in NBA history to blow two 3-1 leads (the first coming as head coach of the Orlando Magic in 2003 against the Detroit Pistons), per ESPN Stats & Info:
Blake Griffin led Los Angeles with 27 points and 11 rebounds. Chris Paul added 26 points and 10 assists.
Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals will be at Oracle Arena on Tuesday night. Catch the action at 9 p.m. ET on ESPN.
| Chris Paul | A- |
| Blake Griffin | A- |
| DeAndre Jordan | A |
| J.J. Redick | D- |
| Jamal Crawford | D |
| Rest of Team | F |
| James Harden | A- |
| Dwight Howard | A |
| Josh Smith | A- |
| Trevor Ariza | A |
| Terrence Jones | C- |
| Rest of Team | A- |
Los Angeles Clippers
Chris Paul: A-
Paul may not have had his best game, but the man played his heart out.
He scored 26 points off 9-of-20 shooting, going 2-of-6 from three-point range. He weaved in and out of the defense in pick-and-roll situations and did his best to try to make plays for his team.
Paul missed several of his patented floaters, but he was still able to make the Rockets defense work and took what it gave him.
CP3 tallied 10 assists and four turnovers.
It's a shame, because Paul will likely catch plenty of blame for this series loss, which isn't fair. He was the primary reason why the Clippers were even in this contest for stretches.
Blake Griffin: A-
Griffin was great offensively.
He scored 27 points and shot 13-of-23 from the floor, knocking down mid-range jumpers and working hard for buckets inside.
Griffin came up short, however, defensively.
Griffin struggled in pick-and-roll situations, coming up too high on Harden and allowing the Rockets guard space to get around him and get to the rim as a result.
Blake was also a bit sloppy with the basketball, turning the rock over five times.
He pulled down 11 rebounds and handed out six dimes.
DeAndre Jordan: A
DeAndre Jordan put up big numbers.
He posted 16 points, 17 rebounds, four steals and three blocks. He shot 7-of-10 from the floor, finishing some lobs and grabbing offensive boards for putbacks.
Jordan was one of the only Clippers players who was consistent throughout the contest, and while his rim protection may not have been topnotch, you can hardly blame him for Los Angeles' defensive breakdowns.
J.J. Redick: D-
J.J. Redick was brutal.
The 2-guard scored 10 points off a 4-of-12 clip, missing seven of his nine attempts from deep. He missed some clean looks from long range and took some odd, contested shots early in the clock.
That wasn't the worst part of Redick's performance, though.
J.J. disappointed with his ball control and defense. He committed six turnovers, some of which were the results of lazy passes. Defensively, he was slow to get back in transition and slow to rotate.
He did contribute six rebounds and four blocks, but this was not a good effort for Redick.
Jamal Crawford: D
Jamal Crawford did not have a good outing, to say the least.
The sixth man made just six of his 18 shots, going 2-of-9 from two-point range (he went 3-of-9 from beyond the arc).
He took wild shots in an attempt to draw contact but ended up not getting the calls and missing badly.
Crawford also fouled five times in 26 minutes and was a game-worst minus-22.
He scored 17 points. He just didn't do it efficiently.
Rest of Team: F
The Clippers got next to nothing from these guys.
Matt Barnes went scoreless, missing his only two field-goal attempts and failing to make any sort of impact defensively.
Austin Rivers was awful, scoring two points and committing four fouls in 15 minutes.
Glen Davis contributed two points and two boards in five minutes.
Houston Rockets
James Harden: A-
Harden set the tone early, scoring 12 points in the first quarter and making four of his first five shots.
He made just three of his last 15 afterward, but his unparalleled ability to get to the free-throw line essentially negated his inefficiency from the field.
Harden went 15-of-18 from the charity stripe, hitting big foul shots late to help seal the game.
He also did a fine job of setting up his teammates, passing out of drives to open shooters and racking up eight assists.
Harden did have some problems with ball security, committing seven turnovers, but fortunately for Houston, those miscues did not come back to bite the team.
In total, Harden scored 31 points in his most important game as a member of the Rockets.
Dwight Howard was outstanding.
The star center posted 16 points and 15 rebounds and wreaked havoc in the lane on both ends of the floor.
Offensively, he threw down alley-oop dunks and did a tremendous job of getting position on the block. Defensively, he made life difficult for the Clippers slashers. While he did not record a single blocked shot, he got a hand up on virtually everything that came his way and altered several of Paul's runners off pick-and-rolls.
Howard went 6-of-8 from the field and shot 4-of-8 from the free-throw line.
Josh Smith: A-
You had to appreciate Josh Smith's performance.
After a monster fourth quarter in Game 6, Smith was terrific again. He scored 15 points in 22 minutes and set the tone early, using his quickness to beat Griffin off the dribble and finish around the rim.
Smith even knocked down a pair of three-pointers, going 2-of-4 from distance.
J-Smoove shot 6-of-10 overall and played some fine post defense on Griffin to boot.
Trevor Ariza: A
Trevor Ariza was brilliant.
He scored 22 points, making six of his 12 attempts from long range. He knew exactly where to be on the floor, spotting up on the wings and in the corners to put himself in perfect position for kick-outs.
Ariza hit a dagger triple to put the Rockets up 11 with 55.8 seconds left.
The wing also hauled in six rebounds in 44 minutes.
Terrence Jones: C-
While Terrence Jones did not have a great game, he showed great maturity.
While he shot only 4-of-10, Jones never panicked and played his game. He made a couple of difficult floaters over Jordan and had one of the biggest assists of the game, finding Ariza for that big three-pointer with under a minute to go.
Jones did make a couple of defensive mistakes, but that is to be expected of such a young player.
He registered eight points and three rebounds.
Rest of Team: A-
Pablo Prigioni was marvelous off the bench.
The feisty point guard made several hustle plays that changed the complexion of the game, stealing a couple of inbounds passes and coming up with a huge offensive rebound.
Prigioni chipped in four points, four assists and three steals.
Corey Brewer was great, too.
The wing recorded 11 points, three boards and three dimes and came with his usual energy on both ends. He shot 4-of-8.
Jason Terry had a rough game offensively, going 1-of-6. However, he did play some surprisingly good defense on Paul for stretches.
