Clippers let a 19-point lead get away in the second half as Rockets force Game 7
The Clippers will have to wait until Sunday to collect the most significant victory in franchise history. Or perhaps much longer. A series that had been tilting heavily their way swung wildly in the opposite direction Thursday night at Staples Center after the Houston Rockets completed a startling comeback for a 119-107 victory in Game 6 of the Western Conference semifinals.
Down by as many as 19 points in the third quarter and 13 early in the fourth quarter, the Rockets, with cold-shooting star James Harden on the bench, closed the game on a 31-7 run to tie the series at three games apiece.
“I thought we were trying to run the clock out and we stopped playing,” Clippers Coach Doc Rivers said. “What could have gone wrong went wrong.”
Game 7 is Sunday in Houston, where the Rockets will try to become just the ninth team in NBA history and first since the Phoenix Suns against the Lakers in 2006 to win a series after trailing three games to one.
The Clippers’ second consecutive defeat in the series left them to double gulp over this statistic: Road teams are 24-95 in Game 7s in league playoff history.
There was audible unease in
the final minutes as the Rockets turned one kind of rout into another. The Clippers quickly shuff led off the court after point guard Chris Paul’s meaningless three-pointer with two seconds left, the Clippers’ only basket in the last 6:47.
The never-made-it-past-thesecond-round narrative involving Paul was still alive despite his 31 points, 11 assists and seven rebounds. It didn’t help that Clippers forward Blake Griffin went scoreless and missed all five of his shots in the fourth quarter after scoring 28 points in the first three quarters.
The numbers told the fourthquarter carnage: The Clippers were outscored, 40-15, after making only four of 22 shots. Rockets guard Corey Brewer scored 15 points and forward Josh Smith tallied 14 … in the fourth quarter.
The momentum had been squarely in the Clippers’ corner after they outscored the Rockets, 2817, during a third quarter that included Griffin tossing up a spinning, over-the-shoulder shot that somehow banked in.
It was the third time in as many home games in the series that the quarter had belonged to the Clippers, who held a 92-79 lead heading into the fourth quarter.
They still led, 100-88, with 7:38 left after Austin Rivers completed a three-point play by making a driving layup and drawing a foul on the Rockets’ Jason Terry.
But Smith made two threepointers and a driving layup as part of a 14-2 run that pulled the Rockets into a 102-102 tie on Brewer’s dunk with 4:21 left. The Rockets were just getting started.
Harden scored 23 points but made only five of 20 shots for the Rockets, who persevered thanks to Dwight Howard’s 20 points and the contributions of Brewer and Smith, who each finished with 19.
It was the first game in the series in which both teams brought their best games — at least at the start — Griffin driving and juking his way to 11 first-quarter points and Paul high-fiving owner Steve Ballmer after being fouled on a driving layup.
Harden countered in a big way, making all 11 of his free throws as the Rockets took a five-point lead late in the second quarter.
Houston Coach Kevin McHale then instructed his players to intentionally foul Jordan.
Bad move. Jordan made both free throws and the Clippers immediately fouled Howard, who badly missed two free throws off to the left side of the rim.
The Clippers held a 64-62 halftime lead that would get much bigger before disappearing altogether. They were left to hope their season wouldn’t endure a similar fade.
“We gave this one away, there’s no doubt about that,” Doc Rivers said. “But it’s still 3-3 and there’s a Game 7.”