Postseason slips away
Houston gives up lead twice, including buzzer-beater that puts game in overtime
DALLAS — All the Rockets had to do was make one last free throw and they would have celebrated a win and the end of a losing streak.
If they did not do that, they needed only to foul, and likely would have closed out the Mavericks.
They did neither. Instead they let the game get to overtime and the Mavericks closed out a 147-136 win, extending the Rockets’ losing streak to five games and eliminating them from the postseason.
The loss was among the most disheartening of the season because of how they let it slip away, first by giving up a 22-point lead, then by losing a three-point lead in the final 10 seconds.
Jabari Smith Jr. missed a pair of free throws with 8.3 seconds remaining in regulation, leaving the Mavericks within three points. Reggie Bullock Jr., whose 3pointer had put the Rockets in front in the final minute, allowed Dante Exum to dribble four times in the backcourt without fouling him as instructed.
Exum nailed his 3-pointer at the buzzer to force overtime of a game the Rockets had reason to believe they had done enough to win.
Once in overtime, the Mavericks took a fourpoint lead, and still led by three in the final minute when P.J. Washington hit a 3-pointer to put Dallas up 142-136 with 59.1 seconds left.
The Mavericks had rallied from down 22 to tie the game in the third quarter. They came back from an eight-point deficit to tie it again with 4 1⁄2 minutes remaining on a Kyrie Irving jumper in the lane.
That gave Irving 13 fourth-quarter points, hitting 6 of 8 shots in the quarter.
Dillon Brooks regained the lead with his third 3pointer. But the Rockets still had to deal with Irving.
He pulled Dallas to within one with 3 1⁄2 minutes left. Jalen Green, who was 0 for 5 since the first quarter while going against near constant double-teams, missed a 3-pointer.
Irving got into the lane again, drawing a foul on Fred VanVleet to make two free throws for a 121-120 Dallas lead, its first of the game.
Brooks again answered, sinking a corner 3, to put the Rockets up two and give him 26 points, matching his season high.
The Rockets got the stop they needed with Washington missing a 3-pointer. But Smith had a 3 come out. Luka Doncic put the Mavericks in front with a 3, before Smith hit a pullup jumper.
The Mavericks scored again. And the Rockets answered again.
Irving finished a drive before Bullock, the former Mavericks guard, sunk a 3pointer with 58 seconds remaining.
The Rockets still held that lead with 24.1 seconds remaining when Exum was called for fouling VanVleet. The Mavericks challenged.
The challenge was unsuccessful. But VanVleet, an 86.5% shooter from the line, made one of two free throws, leaving the Mavericks within three with 22.7 seconds remaining.
With the Mavericks using their last timeout, the Rockets appeared to have chosen to foul before Dallas could put up a 3, putting Nate Hinton in the game. The Mavericks quickly got the ball to Irving, but he missed his 3-pointer with 20.6 seconds left.
Bullock got the rebound, with the Rockets calling two timeouts with 13.6 seconds remaining.
The Mavericks trapped VanVleet, who got the ball to Smith, who went to the line with 8.3 seconds left, leaving both attempts badly short.
That left the opening for Exum to force overtime with his first 3-pointer at the buzzer.
The Rockets had gotten off to a roaring start, making 7 of 9 shots before much of the American Airlines Center crowd had time to get comfortable. When Green took a steal to a breakaway, hit a pullup jumper and sank a 3, the Rockets led, 21-5, and Green had 13 first-quarter points.
The Rockets took a 15point lead into the second quarter and pushed it to 22 while Doncic was out. But the Mavericks did the best thing that can be done to extend the game and mount a comeback: They lived at the line.
The Mavericks put up 15 free throws in the second quarter, 27 in the first half to match the second most in a half in the NBA this season. With Doncic attacking the paint, the Mavericks scored 39 secondquarter points to close to within five by halftime.
Doncic had 14 points in the third quarter as Dallas erased the rest of the Rockets’ lead. But the Rockets responded, taking an eightpoint lead into the fourth quarter.
By then, the foul trouble had gotten more serious. Brooks, the Rockets’ primary defender on Doncic, had scored 20 points when he had to sit with five fouls.
Green had been sitting with four fouls, leaving VanVleet to carry the Rockets’ offense through much of the third quarter.
He was out to start the fourth quarter, when Irving checked back in for Doncic. But the Rockets got a lift from Cam Whitmore, who began the quarter with a steal and a jam for a 10-point lead.
The Rockets were doing a better job creating offense off the double-teams on Green. But not enough to create much of a cushion before Doncic checked back in with nearly 10 minutes still left.
The Rockets went to Jock Landale on three consecutive possessions, only to have Landale miss two free throws, get a drive rejected and commit an offensive foul.
The Mavericks made them pay with a Washington drive and a pair of Irving jumpers.
As easily as the Rockets had scored to start the game, they could not recapture that hot shooting while struggling to get enough stops.
Number to note
24 — fast break points scored by the Rockets, nine more than they average, 11 more than they scored against the Mavericks last week.
ICYMI
The Rockets’ 18 fouls in the first half led to significant trouble, with the Mavericks making 25 of 27 free throws in the first half.
They were more shorthanded than just because Green had four first-half fouls and Smith and Brooks each had three.
Amen Thompson was called for a flagrant foul-penalty 2 in the first quarter when he sent Mavericks center Maxi Kleber sprawling as he tried to get through a screen. Thompson’s right arm got to Kleber’s head and shoulder area, high enough to lead to his first ejection of his career.
Thompson had gotten off to a good start, with five points, three rebounds and three assists in 7:44 before he was tossed.
In the bonus
The Rockets had a plan against Doncic, but it began with doing what they wanted to do last week, but doing it better.
That meant starting with Brooks on him, rather than Thompson, who got the call to begin last week’s game when Doncic scored 47 points in three quarters. But it also required that whoever switched onto Doncic defend him with Brooks’ tenacity.
The Rockets also sent double-teams to help on Doncic after some early switches, especially late in the shot clock.
“It’s pick-your-poison, so to speak, because he’s going to find the guys,” Rockets coach Ime Udoka said. “That’s always the conundrum with him or (Nikola) Jokic or guys that get everybody involved, is try to manage them or … go after them so other guys weren’t the recipient. We’ll mix it some but at least start with guarding him at a high level.”