NBA playoffs: Rockets close out Mavericks, Spurs win wild Game 5

“I don’t complain much,” Rivers said. “I thought we got some really tough calls tonight, some brutal calls. The travel on Blake [Griffin], the goaltend on Matt [Barnes], which wasn’t a goaltend. You think about the playoffs, and they’re single-possession games. Those possessions, those were crucial. J.J. [Redick] ‘s foul that got him out, J.J. didn’t touch anyone. It’s not why we lost, but those were big plays for us.”

Rivers was fined $25,000 by the league for his comments.

DeAndre Jordan appeared to tap in the game-winner for the Clippers Tuesday night. Instead, thanks to one of the NBA’s worst rules, it was waved off:

Jordan touched a shot that had already hit the rim above the hypothetical cylinder of the basket, which is basket interference. Here’s the super slo-mo, thanks to @hpbasketball. You can see that the shot’s last touch on the rim makes it bounce closer to the rim’s center rather than away. Jordan fails to make the split-second cognitive decision not to touch the ball after that bounce, and touches a shot that was probably already going in, ensuring that it does go in.

Yet there he was Tuesday night, once again taking over a must-win playoff game. He did in his normal quiet way, with an efficient 21 points, 11 rebounds and four assists to lead the Spurs to victory.

Of course, this being the Clippers-Spurs, the final minute following Duncan’s block wasn’t a simple one. The Clippers had one more shot with less than 10 seconds remaining. Griffin once again received the ball in the paint and got a shot up at the rim. It bounced a bit but looked to be falling in before DeAndre Jordan tapped it through the net. It was ruled offensive interference. The basket was waived off.

Remember: Big Baby Gon Turn Up.

Maybe the Rockets don’t quite have enough to make a deep run, but they’re certainly not going to make life easy for whoever they face next.

Here are three other things we learned in Tuesday night’s game.

Of course, that win means nothing if the Mavericks can sustain that level. They are going to need a similar effort from all their rotation players if they hope to win another one and get the series back to Dallas.

Place: Toyota Center, Houston