Players know they need better effort, sharper focus to win
The Rockets once again cited the inexplicable lack of intensity and the damage it caused. Dwight Howard called it an absence of “an edge.” James Harden said there was insufficient “focus.” Kevin McHale, still fuming, pointed to a poor “attitude.”
They were all right, of course, as Tuesday’s painful video session no doubt reminded. Yet with seven minutes left against the Los Angeles Clippers on Monday, it was a one-point game. Despite the poor play and all the self-inflicted damage that would send the Rockets spiraling into a 1-0 hole in their second-round playoff series, the game was there to be taken.
By then, the Rockets were playing hard enough, having
been slapped in the face often enough for the Clippers to have gotten their attention. But they did not play close to well enough to win, breaking down badly on both ends of the court en route to a 117-101 loss.
With their late-game flop, it became clear the Rockets will have to improve more than their effort.
That is where a turnaround will have to begin.
“I’m trying to get our guys to play,” McHale said. “We did not play well. They did not have a lot of juice. They had vacant eyes. They just looked like they were running in mud. If I knew what (would) get them out of it, you don’t think I would have given them the elixir?”
Once the Rockets take care of that minimum daily requirement for effort, they know they have to do a variety of things differently — from getting Harden back in sync to keeping Howard involved to getting the Clippers’ Blake Griffin under control.
None of that can happen without the effort, edge, focus and attitude that all of the Rockets players and coaches agreed were so inexplicably deficient Monday. But beating the Clippers will not be as simple as trying to, whether Chris Paul returns for Game 2 on Wednesday night or when the series moves to Los Angeles.
24 turnovers a killer
Priority one would seem to be reducing the turnovers — a mission that starts with Harden. The Clippers, as always, sent a variety of traps on the perimeter and extra defenders inside against Harden. But unlike the Dallas series, where he triggered the Rockets’ offense with usually precise ball movement, Harden carelessly collected nine of the Rockets’ season-high 24 turnovers Monday.
“It was trying to do too much, trying to be too cute, behind-the-back passes and things like that,” Harden said. “Throwing no-look passes. We just got to hit the open guy. It’s pretty simple. It’s what we can control. No matter what, they’re going to be the same defensive team. We’ve got to do a great job of making the easy play.”
Harden averaged 20 points and 35.8-percent shooting against the Clippers during the regular season — the worst he shot against any Western Conference team this season.
Harden made six of 13 shots for his 20 points on Monday, falling nearly eight points shy of his season average. But much of Harden’s improvement this year has been in not forcing his offense into the teeth of a defense that is stacked against him, as he did in the playoffs a year ago. Rather than look to shoot more, Harden said he would continue to read the defense and distribute the ball.
“I’ve got to rely on my teammates,” Harden said. “My teammates all year did a great job of making plays, making the good plays, so it’s the same situation. If they trap me and put two on the ball, give it up and find my teammates and let them make a shot.
“If I see an angle and where I can attack the double-team, I’ll do it. Other than that, get off the ball, four-on-three on the backside and get it to the four and let my teammates make the next play.”
Down the stretch, the Rockets did not make the next play often enough and repeatedly ignored Howard in the low blocks.
Yet, for all their offensive blunders, the Rockets gave up 71 second-half points and let Griffin have his way against them with a dominant triple-double. Griffin’s 26 points, 14 rebounds and career-high 13 assists made up for Paul absence.
But that will not force the Rockets to change their game plan for Griffin. Instead, McHale said he would like to see the Rockets follow the game plan they had but ignored.
“Try to possibly do the things we asked them to do in our preparation work,” McHale said when asked how to improve the defense against Griffin. “We did not play Blake the way we practiced at all.”
Time to light the fire
Still, the Rockets need to get past their greatest shortcoming. A return to playoff-level effort and intensity is a start.
“That surely caught me by surprise after having time off, getting our rest,” McHale said. “We’ve had those things off and on. I did not expect it in the opening game of the second round when you worked hard all year long to get home-court advantage. Now, we have to fight.
“But one game does not a series make. It’s the first team to win four games. We have a lot of stuff we can do better.”