THE SIXTH MAN 2.0
Guard Eric Gordon has proved to be much more than just a valuable player off the bench
SALT LAKE CITY — James Harden saw what we were all seeing. For the Rockets to be the real Rockets, they needed more from Eric Gordon.
You can think and say it. I can type and tweet it — I did several times during the games leading up to the Rockets’ best overall outing of these playoffs.
But Harden is the team’s leader and the face of the franchise. So The Beard simply dialed up Gordon after the disappointment of Game 2 at Toyota Center and asked the NBA’s 2016-17 Sixth Man of the Year what he was seeing on the court as the Rockets prepared to fly to Utah for a critical Game 3.
“He tried to give all these extra, ‘I think they were more aggressive.’ And I said, ‘No. You need to go out there and score the basketball. Because that’s what you do,’ ” said Harden, the day after the Rockets beat the Jazz 113-92 at Vivint Smart Home Arena and Gordon tied his teammate for a co-game high 25 points. “I just took it, brought it back to when I was a sixth man, how when I checked in the game the whole game changes.
“So we talked a little bit and at the end of the day, I think that’s all he needed, was to go out there and have that confidence that, ‘Yo, I’m going to go out there and I am the Sixth Man of the Year. I can go out there and I’m going to put up 25 and guard whoever I want to guard and be Eric Gordon.’ ”
Turning up the heat
Being Gordon in Game 3: 8-of-13 shooting, including 4-of-8 on 3-pointers, in 30 minutes and 52 seconds of action off Mike D’Antoni’s bench.
The Rockets began on fire, racing to a 19-5 lead and stunning Utah’s screaming faithful into silence. D’Antoni answered by cranking up the heat at the 6:18 mark in the first quarter, removing Chris Paul and inserting Gordon, who increased the Rockets’ advantage to 20 points before CP3 joined him on the court, and ended the first half with a team-high 17 points.
“When Eric gets going, our team gets going,” veteran forward P.J. Tucker said before practice Saturday. “When he comes off that bench and he attacks, he has people chasing him around, it opens up the whole floor for everybody.”
Difference-maker. Floorspacer. Shot-taker. Game-changer.
We talk about so many things when it comes to these Rockets. Harden and Paul getting the best out of each other in 2018. Clint Capela continuing his ascension, outplaying KarlAnthony Towns and Rudy Gobert in the postseason. The grit Tucker brings. The fact this can be a championship team when the Rockets dominate both ends of the floor like they did in Game 3.
We don’t discuss Gordon enough, even though he ranked third on a 65-win team in average scoring (18 points per game) and second in made 3s (3.2) during the regular season.
The Rockets downed Minnesota 4-1 during the first round. But the team never felt right, setting up the Game 2 home letdown against Utah. Gordon started the playoffs connecting on sic of 23 shots and finished the first round shooting 34.4 percent from the field and 30.2 percent on 3s, then went 0-of-6 in Game 1 against the Jazz.
Going to Plan B
His shot didn’t fall in Game 2 (5-of-16) but the 10-year veteran answered by attacking the rim during a failed second-half comeback, finishing with 15 points, six rebounds, three made 3s, two blocks, an assist and a steal. Then Harden challenged his teammate.
“Eric was the reason why (Game 3) happened,” Harden said. “Obviously, our defense was great. But we needed Eric to have a breakout game. Not just making 3s, but he was getting to the basket, he was just being aggressive, and that’s the sixth man that we know.”
The day after his highly efficient 25-point night, Gordon sat on a front-row chair while Harden laughed with Paul and Hakeem Olajuwon worked with the Rockets’ young big men.
Gordon acknowledged he sometimes can become onedimensional in D’Antoni’s offense: A spot-up shooter just waiting for the ball to come his way.
As the Jazz ran the Rockets off the 3-point line in Game 2, Gordon answered by attacking. In Game 3, he did it all and the Rockets never stopped running.
“I was the point guard — I’m able to bring it down. And sometimes I was being able to attack in transition,” Gordon said. “So when I’m able to do that — attack in transition, come off some pindowns — it’s tough for the defense to agitate what I’m really going to do.”
His early playoff struggles were a reminder of the long road the Rockets face. Ease up and disregard an opponent — Game 3 at Minnesota, Game 2 against Utah — and the NBA’s unpredictable No. 1 seed will pay the price. Bring it like the Rockets can, though, and they are talented enough to fly past anyone in the league.
“We know that it’s not going to come easy,” Gordon said. “But (Friday) night is the mark of how we should play. And we can play like that all the time.”
During a season when Gordon Hayward chose Boston over SLC, Utah’s year will be viewed as an organizational success by making the second round.
Grander ambitions
The Rockets have grander ambitions and have stared at Golden State and the NBA Finals since last summer.
Harden, Paul and D’Antoni can add a shared NBA title to their legacies. Capela is 23, but he’s giving the Rockets their run-and-shoot version of a Big Three. But Gordon’s importance in this run can’t be overlooked. It was his willingness to link up with D’Antoni in Houston, accepting a backup role, that gave the Rockets their breathless three-guard attack. And if this team — which can be so brilliant when all the pieces smoothly swirl around in constant, selfless motion — is going to win the next round, then capture four more games in the NBA Finals, it’s going to need more Game 3s from Gordon.
He’s more than a sixth man. He’s one of the Rockets’ most important pieces.
“This season’s very important,” Gordon said. “You only get this chance once, ever. It’s all about taking advantage of this now. Because we’re like, ‘Who’s really going to beat us four times in a series?’ If we play the right way.”