Rockets fall in OT as Spurs take 3-2 lead
San Antonio overcomes injury to Kawhi; Ginobili steps up on both ends of floor to stymie Rockets
The Houston Rockets had all they wanted within their grasp. They had the lead. They had the ball. Kawhi Leonard was on the bench with a sprained left ankle, taking the irrepressible engine that powers the San Antonio Spurs off the floor.
It was all there to be taken. Then, the Rockets stopped. With the game – and the series if overwhelming precedent is to believed – on the line, the high-speed, high-scoring Rockets’ offense slowed to Spurs’ speed.
James Harden had taken the Rockets to the brink of victory but could take them no farther. The attack that had built the lead was gone. The opportunity that the Rockets saw so clearly disappeared as if had been a mirage until the Spurs prevailed 110-107 in overtime for a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven second-round series.
“For sure, we let that one slip away,” Harden said. “We still have an opportunity in Game 6 to protect home court and bring it back here for Game 7.”
Recovery will not be easy. The winner of Game 5 in a best-of-seven playoff series that had been tied 2-2 has won 83 percent of those series.
More than just foreboding, however, the loss came with a maddening breakdown in the final possessions of regulation and especially in overtime, when the Rockets could get just six shots, all from the three-point line.
The final chance was gone when Spurs veteran Manu Ginobili, who had spent much of the night recapturing his championship-caliber past, reached from behind to stuff Harden’s three-point attempt to beat the horn.
“Manu reached back and gave us one of his Manu performances from past years,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. “He was a stud.”
Ginobili had tied the game with a drive with 34.5 seconds left in regulation, after the Spurs had made 5-of-23 fourth-quarter shots, including a stretch in which they missed 12 in a row. Finally, in the final minutes, Popovich determined the ankle would not allow Leonard to finish the game, but the Rockets could not take advantage.
“Whether he was there or not, they did what they had to,” Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni said. “We just didn’t deliver the knockout punch.”
The Rockets could not make the shots to put the game away, going 10-of-35 from the three-point line after halftime. With a final possession in regulation to get the victory, Harden held the ball until the final seconds, finally trying to free himself from Jonathon Simmons with a shove for an offensive foul.
The Spurs did not get a shot off in time, either, with Patty Mills expecting a Pau Gasol screen that never came. But by then, the Rockets’ offense had hit a wall.
Again and again, the Rockets slowly worked the clock, having to force shots. When they moved more quickly, Pat Beverley and Ryan Anderson sank 3s for the lead, Anderson putting the Rockets in front with 47.6 seconds left. But the Rockets had opened the way for the Spurs to take the win.
“Probably got tired,” D’Antoni said. “We couldn’t quite push it. We had opportunities with about three minutes left in the game to knock a couple 3s down. All we’re good shots. We just couldn’t make the big play at that moment.
“I thought it was hard fought. We played as hard as we could. We had our chances to win.”
With Nene out, D’Antoni went with a seven-player rotation. But through four quarters, only Eric Gordon had played 40 minutes. After soaring to a 60-point first half, with Harden routinely attacking the basket to score 23 of his 33 points, the Rockets began missing long before the game came down to its final minutes.
In the final 10 minutes, the Rockets put up just 13 points. That might have been enough, but after Anderson gave the Rockets the lead with 47.6 seconds left in overtime, Danny Green beat Harden off the dribble for a three-point play with 30.1 seconds left.
Gordon missed a three, forcing the Rockets to foul. Green, who scored the Spurs’ final seven points, all in the last minute, made one of two free throws.
Gordon had to win a jump ball just to keep the final possession and last chance. But that only led to a shot that never left Harden’s fingers.
“We played well enough to win,” D’Antoni said. “We just didn’t finish the job.”
That made the loss more frustrating, especially with the Rockets slowing down to get a good, long look. Leonard, meanwhile, finished with 22 points and 15 rebounds, but was clearly not the same impact player on both ends of the court after the third quarter injury. But the Spurs got a definitive answer from Leonard when asked about his status for Thursday’s Game 6 in Houston.
“I’m gonna be able to play,” Leonard told reporters after the game.
Having already lost Tony Parker for the rest of the playoffs, the Spurs can ill afford a loss like Leonard.
The Spurs can close it out Thursday and secure a date with the Golden State Warriors in the Western Conference finals with one more win.
“We’re not in control until we win Game 6,” said Leonard.