Improbably, the Rockets and Clippers are headed back to Houston for a do-or-die Game 7 following a huge fourth quarter rally Thursday night that stunned the L.A. crowd.
Doc Rivers: "We gave this one away. There's no doubt about that."
— SLAM Magazine (@SLAMonline) May 15, 2015
With James Harden a mere “cheerleader” on the bench, his teammates (most notably Josh Smith, Corey Brewer, and Jason Terry most) mounted a furious 19-point comeback and earned a 119-107 win.
With history on the Rockets’ side …
Since '83-84, home teams are 43-8 in Game 7s that occur in the 2nd round or later. #NBAPlayoffs pic.twitter.com/ycORLprAGb
— NBA.com (@NBAcom) May 15, 2015
… The series concludes Sunday in H-Town.
Per the Houston Chronicle:
With the Clippers almost popping the champagne on their way to their first trip to the Western Conference Finals, the Rockets rolled through a spectacular fourth-quarter comeback, their largest of the season to shock the Clippers,119-107, and send the series back to Houston for Game 7 on Sunday. […] The comeback from a 19-point deficit was the Rockets’ largest in the post-season since the 1995 NBA Finals when the Rockets came back from down 20. Their 13-point hole heading into the fourth quarter was the largest they had ever escaped in a playoff game.
“We all just want to win, because we understand how important this season and this time is to us,” said Dwight Howard, who had 20 points and 21 rebounds, the first 20-20 game in an elimination game since Shawn Kemp in 1997. “What happened 20 years ago was great for the city and great for that team, but we have to make our own history. This is a great time to do it. […] We won’t quit. You know, we had every opportunity to tuck our tails and to sulk in defeat, but instead we rallied around each other. We continued to believe, and that’s why we got the win.”
As the Rockets took off, the Clippers crumbled. They missed 15-consecutive fourth-quarter shots, many coming at the rim or on rushed, but open jumpers. They made just 4 of 22 shots in the fourth quarter with Chris Paul tacking on a 3 at the buzzer as the teams headed to the locker rooms. […] “They outplayed us in every sense of the word down the stretch,” Blake Griffin said. “We took our foot off the gas, stopped defending, a lot of things. Got to be better. You could tell we kind of got stunned, and we didn’t respond well.”
