Rockets' rugged basketball versus Clippers' fancy losses

Good news: the Clippers played one of their best games this season, with Leonard scoring 24 points, Harden 22, and Zubac delivering his strongest performance with 33 points and 7 rebounds. The bad news is the Clippers still ended up losing the game.

Today the Clippers held steady through the first half, didn’t collapse in the third quarter, and even the fourth quarter wasn’t a total breakdown. After the Rockets sparked a run early in the final period, Harden came in and stabilized the situation. That the Clippers battled the Rockets all the way to the end surprised many fans.

In the last 37 seconds, Harden hit a three-pointer to tie the game. On the next possession, Shepard missed a three, Amen and Sengun grabbed four offensive rebounds under the basket, and Amen scored on a put-back while drawing a foul, then made the free throws to take a 3-point lead.

These two possessions almost summed up the entire game. The Clippers shot well from beyond the arc today—Harden made 4 of 10 threes—but they couldn’t match the Rockets’ relentless rebounding. The Rockets outrebounded the Clippers by 23 overall, with 22 offensive boards, nearly matching the Clippers’ total rebounds for the whole game.

The Rockets took 15 more shots than the Clippers but only won by two points. For the Rockets, this was definitely not a great night—they shouldn’t have been in such a tight contest with the Clippers and nearly lost the game at the end.

The game took a bizarre turn after Zubac made one of two free throws. After a rebound by Ja, his ball protection caused contact with Dunn, who fell and drew an offensive foul on Ja. The Rockets challenged but lost the review.

The Clippers were down by 2 with possession, but on the next play Leonard was called for a very subtle offensive foul. Leonard didn’t even use his elbow tip, just pushed with his arm, but Holiday fell dramatically. The Clippers challenged and lost again.

Normally, this call would rarely be called an offensive foul, but since the Rockets had just been awarded a similar call, the referees clearly wanted to "even things out." In this context, it was a clear "don’t reach out or you’ll get caught" situation.

The drama wasn’t over. After the Rockets’ tactical foul free throws, the Clippers had a baseline throw-in. Harden kept calling for a teammate to come receive the ball because Okogie was tightly guarding him, but the Clippers didn’t realize this. Batum rushed the inbound pass without noticing his foot was on the line, resulting in a turnover that sealed the game.

Similar inbound mistakes have happened this season, like with Smart, but his was due to rushing a fast break, whereas Batum’s was because no one came to get the ball. The Clippers as a whole showed poor communication.

An offensive foul and an inbound turnover—after struggling for four quarters, the Clippers were sunk. Despite Leonard playing a career-high 40.8 minutes and Zubac finally stepping up this season, the Clippers couldn’t change their fate.

What makes this Clippers team so frustrating is that they’ve tried everything but still can’t escape their problems. The veteran lineup failed early in the season, so they benched the older players, but the younger squad couldn’t succeed either, leaving them reliant on Harden.

Now the Clippers are back to their old ways, with veterans reclaiming rotation spots. Sanders remains in the rotation, but wins still don’t come. Harden can’t carry the team alone, and even with Leonard back, the two together can’t secure victories. Recently, their only win was against an injured Hawks squad missing many key players.

To shake things up, the Clippers’ management even humiliatingly traded Paul away. Yet after beating the depleted Hawks, they promptly lost three straight games. This season has seen the Clippers lose in countless creative ways, but now they’re just blaming a 40-year-old Paul, which is truly sad.

Although the Rockets won, given the Clippers are one of the league’s worst teams, the Rockets shouldn’t be too optimistic. The Rockets struggled offensively right from the start, and whenever Durant’s isolation plays are stopped, the whole offense tends to stall.

In the first half, Durant was 1-for-7 and the Rockets trailed by 3; he scored 13 points in the third quarter as his shot improved, but the Rockets’ defense remained poor, allowing many open threes. In the fourth quarter, Durant disappeared again, scoring zero points, nearly letting the Rockets blow their lead.

This Rockets team, aside from being the league’s best at rebounding, doesn’t have much else going for them. They rank 20th in assists per game, rely heavily on individual plays, and despite having the third-best three-point percentage, they attempt the fewest threes in the league. Shooting so well but taking so few shots shows their players can’t sustain three-point production.

Although the Rockets rank second in offensive efficiency, their offense isn’t necessarily strong. They depend heavily on offensive rebounds to create second-chance opportunities and generate more shot attempts than their opponents to compensate for their rough offense.

Yesterday I said the Thunder had the worst offensive drought, and many fans pointed out that the Rockets and Thunder went to overtime early in the season and could compete. But seeing this Rockets team that can barely hold on against the Clippers until the final moments, can they really match up with the Thunder now?