Beaten defenseless
Former draft pick Harrell leads assault as team’s struggles worsen
When the Rockets could no longer get close enough to flail away and foul Montrezl Harrell, they could only watch, painfully and helplessly as he slammed home just how overmatched they had become.
Harrell, the former Rockets draft pick sent to the Clippers in the Chris Paul trade, did his chin-up on the rim, to stare down at the wreckage below with the Rockets powerless to stop him or much of anything else.
With the Rockets’ defense badly broken and exposed again, the Clippers sent the Rockets crashing to a 133-113 loss Friday and a 1-4 record to start the season, with coach Mike D’Antoni ready to take a sledgehammer to the switching style that fueled last season’s success to start over.
But the Clippers beat him to it.
“We have to make some adjustments,” D’Antoni said. “We were switching and obviously this team is different from last year and they were busting us. We’ll have two days of practice So we’ll put some other things in and try to figure it out a little bit better. Our defense was just awful. We got to play better than this. I don’t know if we’ll be a great defensive team the way we are right now, but we can be a lot better than this.”
There were other issues along the way. With James Harden out with a strained hamstring and to miss at least one more game, the Rockets’ backcourt shooting was nearly as absent. Paul, back from his two-game suspension, was 3-of-13 from the field with five turnovers. Eric Gordon was 3-of-14.
Carmelo Anthony got his first start and had 24 points, but 11 came in the first quarter with his seven in the fourth quarter coming after the Clippers’ lead had reached 24.
Still, as much as the Rockets’ issues on the offensive end helped the Clippers leave them in the dust, no shortcoming was as conspicuous and disastrous as their inability to stop them through long stretches.
Most of that was with the Clippers picking out defenders to torch, with Tobias Harris, Danilo Gallinari and Lou Williams having their way on the perimeter, or by just simply having Harrell set a screen, get a switch and then head to the rim.
“Especially as a big, you get switched on to the small so you’re on the ball,” Rockets
center Clint Capela said. “I just feel I can’t do anything. We’re going to watch film and see how I can help and not just watching because I’m on the guard on the 3-point line, just watching the big do anything he wants. Of course, it hurts. We’re going to have to figure it out.”
Harrell hit his former team for 30 points in 28 minutes off the bench, going 8-of-13 and 14-of-15 on free throws.
The Rockets were so helpless defensively the Clippers put up 38 free throws, making 35 to score easily even between dunks and open jump shots.
“We’re making silly fouls,” D’Antoni said. “We’re grabbing guys. They know they’re not supposed to grab. We’re making silly fouls and they’re blowing by us. And then we foul from desperation. You know, it’s a little combination of everything. It’s not just one thing. I can’t point to one thing, but when it goes in a cycle of we’re almost drowning and you start to flail and when you do that, you foul, you’re not smart, just a lot of things break down.”
When the Rockets did have stretches in which they could get stops, they kept themselves in the game. They cut a 14-point lead to one in the third quarter. They were within three with four minutes until the fourth quarter.
Then Harrell charged down the lane, the Clippers scored easily and the demoralized Rockets began pressing on the other end, too. It took more than four fourth-quarter minutes for the Rockets to make a shot. By then, the Clippers were so giddily rolling, they put up 37 in the fourth quarter to go with a 39-point second quarter.
“Energy and effort, a little smarter,” Rockets forward P.J. Tucker said of what is needed most. “It’s tough. It’s not the same team. I hate talking about last year. It’s gone.”
The Rockets’ defense has departed too, with every dunk or open 3 surrendered a reminder of how it needs to be built again.