Rockets can clinch, Thunder look to force a Game 7
(AP) — The law of averages says an Oklahoma City Thunder starter will make a 3-pointer relatively quickly on Monday night.
Someone better, or else.
Houston — which famously wasted a chance to reach the NBA Finals by missing 27 consecutive 3-pointers in Game 7 of the 2018 Western Conference finals — is a game away from the second round of these playoffs, after watching the Thunder suddenly forget how to shoot on Saturday night. The Rockets will take a 3-2 series lead into Game 6 against the Thunder in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, on Monday night.
“We’ll go back to the drawing board, see what we did well, see what we didn’t do well,” Thunder guard Chris Paul said.
Houston rolled in Game 5, winning 11480 on a night where the Thunder missed 14 consecutive 3-pointers in one 19-minute stretch during which the Rockets outscored them 5525 — basically the entire winning margin.
Thunder starters combined to miss their last 17 attempts from 3-point range and combined for the full game, Oklahoma City’s first-stringers were 1 for 21 from beyond the arc — the worst performance by any starting unit that tried at least 20 3s in a game since Portland went 1 for 21 at New York on Nov. 13, 2001.
“We’re connected, we’re very aware,” Rockets guard Eric Gordon said Sunday. “A team like OKC, they’re a really good team and people don’t give them enough credit . ... Our main thing is to stay in front of them and make them take contested shots.”
Controlling emotions could be a challenge for both sides in Game 6. Dennis Schroder led the Thunder with 19 points in Game 5 — 18 in the second quarter, when Oklahoma City had its only lead of the night. But he was ejected midway through the third for hitting Houston’s P.J. Tucker in the midsection; Tucker also was ejected after retaliating with a head-butt.