Rockets find Pelicans are no Big Easy
Setback is disappointing, but New Orleans loses Cousins for rest of season with injury
Harden’s ploy, late rally fail in New Orleans as the Rockets see their four-game win streak come to an end in 115-113 loss.
NEW ORLEANS — In an instant, everything had changed.
Pelicans center DeMarcus Cousins had been helped from the floor with an Achilles injury that seems certain to end his season, widely considered the best of his career and certain to deliver him his first postseason appearance.
With that, the Pelicans’ season and chances, even the Western Conference playoffs, seemed changed.
The power of the Pelicans’ two-fisted force had floored the Rockets, forcing them to get up and rally from down 21 to a chance in the final two minutes. With that, no one could leave happy. The Rockets did eventually crank up their defense and found enough 3-point shooting to have their chance in the final
possessions, only to lose 115-113 on Friday in New Orleans. The Pelicans held off the rally, with two late buckets including one on a putback by Cousins, but they lost a player in the final 12 seconds they could not afford to
lose.
“It’s his Achilles,” Pelicans coach Alvin Gentry said. “He’ll get an MRI. We’ll know the severity of it tomorrow. Just know that it’s his Achilles.
“We’re scared about it. All of our guys feel terrible about it.”
Devastating as that was for the Pelicans, the Rockets could not complain too much about the frustrations along the way. But after Cousins hit them for a triple-double, with 15 points, 13 rebounds and 11 assists, and Anthony Davis scored 27 points with 11 rebounds and five blocked shots, the Rockets lamented that it took so long to get traction with their defense, blaming that far more than coming up short in the final two minutes.
D’Antoni laments play
“We didn’t play hard enough early,” Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni said. “They played great. We didn’t have enough energy to battle them early. We almost pulled it off. That’s what happens, when something goes against you, or whatever. You’re playing with fire. We had a chance. We just didn’t finish it up.”
By the time the Pelicans built a 21-point lead midway through the third quarter, they had made 33 of 57 shots (57.9 percent) to top even their shooting in the previous meeting with the Rockets, when they had the best shooting night (57.4 percent) against them this season.
The Rockets, however, went to small lineups, found some energy and, after missing 12 of 13 3-pointers since the first quarter, rediscovered their shooting touch to rally all the way back.
Chris Paul and Eric Gordon had kept the Rockets in the game, with Paul scoring 38 points, Gordon 27 against their former team. With 3-pointers from Trevor Ariza and Paul, and a pass from James Harden to set up Luc Mbah a Moute for a dunk, the Rockets tied the game with 2½ minutes left. But they still had to deal with the Pelicans’ two-headed monster inside.
After Davis put in a pair of free throws, Cousins ripped the ball away from Mbah a Moute and set up Darius Miller for a 3.
Paul sank a pull-up jumper before Ariza knocked down another 3, to tie the game again. But then, the Rockets were out of stops.
After Jrue Holiday drove to a lefthanded floater in the lane, Harden missed from 20 feet with 43 seconds left. When Cousins put in a rebound, the Pelicans led by four with 15 seconds left.
Frantic final seconds
Davis fouled Paul shooting a 3-pointer, and Paul put in all three free throws with eight seconds remaining to cut the lead to one. But after Darius Miller was fouled, the Pelicans led by three with 4.1 seconds left, giving the Rockets a last chance to shoot for overtime.
With that, Harden tried one more time to draw a shooting foul. Minutes be- fore the shot he needed to earn him three free throws to tie the game, he was certain that he was fouled while shooting, a conviction he said made stronger by a review of the videotape. This time, however, Miller got to him in time, sending Harden to the line for two free throws, trailing by three.
“I don’t know how close I was (on the last one), but I know the one I made was an and-one,” Harden said. “It should have counted.”
The Rockets cited many things that should have been different, starting with their own first half of defense. But none was as upsetting as the one event that devastated the team that won.
jonathan.feigen@chron.com twitter.com/jonathan_feigen