With the NBA, you never really know. In the course of a few days, the Houston Rockets went from looking like a streak of paper tigers to pride of very real lions. You could not imagine a team more listless in a playoff series than Houston looked in Games 3 and 4 in Los Angeles, where they lost by a combined 58 points. Yet they found the verve in Game 5 to survive, and a pair of unlikely heroes supplied enough vim and vigor for a massive comeback win in Game 6.
Give Daryl Morey credit for finding the Rockets’ bargain-bin saviors
What looked hopeless a week ago now looks promising again in Houston thanks to players like Josh Smith and Corey Brewer’s Game 6 heroics.
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A week ago we considered whether the Rockets as built around James Harden and Dwight Howard were doomed. Now the team is one home win away from the NBA's final four. Things change so fast.
Just as skepticism was due to Houston teambuilder Daryl Morey when the Rockets looked lost, credit is due when they find their way. David Griffin earns heaps of praise (as he should) for turning a first-round pick and Dion Waiters into Timofey Mozgov, Iman Shumpert and J.R. Smith. But Morey landed Josh Smith and Corey Brewer -- the improbable champions of Game 6 -- for the total price of Troy Daniels and three second-round picks. He made wine out of brine.
In the fourth quarter alone, Brewer and Smith combined for 29 points on 9-of-13 shooting (5-of-7 on threes) with no turnovers. They also helped lock down the Clippers, along with Dwight Howard and Trevor Ariza. L.A. shot 4-of-22 in the final period, including 2-of-13 from inside the arc. Howard had his best game of the series -- and maybe the playoffs -- while finishing with 20 points and 21 rebounds.
The most striking thing about the comeback was the absence of James Harden, who sat the fourth entirely after he carried the team in the first half and fizzled in the third. There were opportunities for Kevin McHale to insert Harden as the comeback materialized. Instead, he stayed with Jason Terry and Brewer at the guard positions and refused to go small.
You can’t count on Brewer (a career .290 three-point shooter) or Smith (.285) to do that every night. But you also don’t expect a player the caliber of Harden to go 5-of-20 from the floor, even when under immense pressure. A timely explosion from unlikely sources is exactly what Houston needed with Harden off -- that’s exactly what McHale and Morey received. Considering the role players’ impressive part in helping Harden push to the No. 2 seed in the deep West, it’s fitting that they’d be responsible for preserving the season.
It’s also fitting that incredible defense would play such a major role. While Harden received so much of the attention, the Rockets’ defense carried them all season, even in Howard’s injury absence. With Dwight healthy, there are times when Houston’s resistance looks like the league’s best.
The fourth quarter was one of those moments, as Ariza and Brewer are excellent, flexible wing stoppers, Smith is electric (and admittedly inconsistent), Jason Terry is crafty and Howard is a monster. The Clippers had the league’s No. 1 offense this season. They shot 4-of-22 in the fourth. That doesn’t happen by fluke. Houston’s defense -- its actors, its architects -- deserve bundles of credit.
Things change so fast. Two weeks ago the Clippers were one shot away from a disappointing first-round exit. If they lose Game 7 on Saturday, that miracle finish over the Spurs will be for naught. Morey conjured up some free gold this season, and that saved his team on Thursday. Doc Rivers conjured up his son. We'll see if that or anything else L.A. has can save the Clippers in Game 7.
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