LA Clippers’ DeAndre Jordan helped put a stop to dominance by Houston’s Dwight Howard

Clippers Rockets Basketball

DeAndre Jordan of the Clippers shoots over Dwight Howard of Houston during the Clippers’ 122-106 victory Wednesday at Houston/AP photo by Pat Sullivan

 

Dwight Howard of the Houston Rockets was a royal pain to the Clippers the first three times the teams played this season. He went for 20 points and 20 rebounds in the Rockets’ 109-105 victory over the Clippers on Nov. 7 at Staples Center. He scored 22 points and grabbed 14 rebounds in a 107-97 win over the Clippers on Dec. 19 at Houston and he went for 36 points and 26 rebounds in a 140-132 Clippers overtime victory Jan. 18 at Staples Center.

It was a very different story Wednesday, when the Clippers (43-24) went to Houston and routed the Rockets 122-106. Howard scored just six points on 2 of 4 shooting and grabbed only seven rebounds in nearly 33 minutes.

His Clippers counterpart – DeAndre Jordan – played a big hand in Howard’s non-showing.

“He was great,” said Rivers, whose team will next play Saturday at Memphis. “He had a great game and Dwight has had so many big games against us, the last three especially. We put a major focus on that. Our guys did a great job of game planning there. (James) Harden is just tough to stop, no matter what you do, but when Harden and Howard score, you don’t win.

“I thought our guys did a fantastic job being in the right spot. We did what we were supposed to do and we didn’t let (Dwight) get behind us. He may have had the first dunk, but after that, he didn’t get any underneath; it was just good defense.”

Jordan not only helped shut down Howard, he scored 23 points, grabbed 16 rebounds and blocked two shots.

As for the Rockets’ Harden, he scored 33 points on 11 of 23 shooting. He did his part for Houston (34-34), Howard did not.

Five things to take from Clippers’ 113-100 Game 7 loss to the Rockets

Jamal Crawford brings the ball up court as the Rockets’ James Harden whoops it up during the third quarter of Game 7 of the Western Conference semifinals Sunday at Toyota Center in Houston/Photo by James Nielsen, Houston Chronicle

 

 

– The first thing we take from this Game 7 loss is that had the Clippers taken care of business when they should have in Game 6 at Staples Center when they had the Rockets right where they wanted them with a 19-point lead late in the third quarter, there never would have been a Game 7. And the Clippers would be playing the Golden State Warriors in the Western Conference finals instead of the Rockets. You snooze, you lose.

– The Trio of J.J. Redick, Jamal Crawford and Matt Barnes struggled shooting from the field for the third consecutive game – all Clippers losses. Redick scored 10 points on 4 of 12 shooting, Barnes was scoreless on 0 of 2 and Crawford scored a hard 17 points on 6 of 18. They were a combined 5 of 19 from 3-point range. As a team, the Clippers shot just 25 percent (7 of 28) from beyond the arc, also their third poor performance from there in succession.

Doc Rivers bemoaned the turnovers, noting his Clippers were “a low-turnover” team all season. The Clippers had 18, the Rockets 17 total (16 player, 1 team). But the Clippers scored only 17 points off Rockets miscues, while the Rockets scored 27 off the Clippers’. Redick had six turnovers, Blake Griffin five and Chris Paul four.

– Other than Crawford’s 17 points – and again, they were not a good 17 points – the Clippers received virtually nothing from their bench. Austin Rivers and Glen “Big Baby” Davis each scored two points. That was it. Houston got 11 points from Corey Brewer, eight from Terrence Jones, four from Pablo Prigioni and two from Clint Capela. Moreover, Prigioni had four assists and three steals in 20 productive minutes.

– The Clippers did well to fight back in this game, pulling within three points in the third quarter and within eight twice late in the fourth. But Doc Rivers was not happy when Trevor Ariza hit a 3-pointer with just under a minute to play to increase his team’s lead to 11 and sealing the Clippers’ fate. Rivers was obviously dismayed when he called a timeout, looking at his players as if to say, “Why was he so open?” Rivers afterward said his team missed a lot of assignments. The Rockets shot 40 percent (12 of 30) from 3-point range.

BONUS TAKE: Rockets guard James Harden did not shoot well from the field, making 7 of 20. But his game-high 31 points included 18 trips to the free-throw line; he made 15. By the way, the Clippers shot just 17 free throws all game, the Rockets 41.

Blake Griffin has 12 points in first half, but Clippers trail Rockets 56-46

The Houston Rockets on Sunday led by as many as 15 points in the first half before settling for a 56-46 lead over the Clippers at the break in Game 7 of the Western Conference semifinals at Toyota Center in Houston.

Blake Griffin led the Clippers with 12 points and Chris Paul and Jamal Crawford each scored 10. Interestingly, Paul had only one assist.

Dwight Howard and James Harden scored 12 points apiece for the Rockets and Josh Smith had nine points.

The Clippers are doing a much better job on the boards, outrebounding the Rockets 26-24. Houston outrebounded the Clippers by 19 in each of the past two games – both Rockets victories.

The winner will advance to the conference finals against Golden State.

Five things to take from Clippers’ 119-107 loss to Rockets in Game 6

Clippers sit on the bench in the final minute of their 119-107 loss to the Rockets. (Photo by Michael Owen Baker/L.A. Daily News)

Bummed out Clippers watch the end of Thursday night’s fiasco from the bench/Photo by Michael Owen Baker, Los Angeles Daily News

 

– Clippers fans have to ask themselves one question: How do the Clippers get past one of the most epic fold jobs in recent memory? Think about it. They led by 19 points with 3:04 left in the third quarter and their fans at Staples Center were in a frenzy. Then they were outscored 51-20 the rest of the way. How the heck does that happen? Just when we thought the Clippers’ Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde syndrome might be a thing of the past, boom, it’s back.

James Harden, who has been under the weather, didn’t even play in the fourth quarter. He did check in with 1:01 to play in the game, but checked right back out without playing a second. But, man, Josh Smith and Corey Brewer more than picked up the slack. Brewer scored 15 of his 19 points in the fourth quarter, Smith scored 14 of his 19 in the fourth. Smith had three big 3-point baskets, each installing a nail in the Clippers’ coffin. As good as they were, the Clippers were that bad in defending them. Not that the Clippers played any defense at all in the final quarter, during which the Rockets shot 63.2 percent from the field – 63.6 (7 of 11) from beyond the arc.

– The Clippers’ two best players – Blake Griffin and Chris Paul – fell apart during crunch time. Griffin, in particular, was awful in the fourth. He missed all five of his shots and threw up a couple of bricks from short range that were head-scratching. Paul was just 2 of 7 in the fourth as the Clippers shot just 18.2 percent (4 of 22).

– The trio of Matt Barnes, J.J. Redick and Jamal Crawford once again could not find the basket. Barnes shot 4 of 12 and Redick and Crawford were both 4 of 13. That’s a combined 12 of 38 (31.5 percent). This comes on the heels of them shooting a combined 6 of 30 (20 percent) in the Game 5 loss. If this doesn’t change, the Clippers stand little chance of winning Game 7.

– Crawford scored nine points to lead the reserves. As a whole, the bench scored just 16 points with Austin Rivers scoring five points on 2 of 8 from the field and Glen “Big Baby” Davis scoring just two. The Rockets got 37 points from three players – 19 from Brewer, 16 from Terrence Jones and two from Clint Capela.

– BONUS TAKE: The Clippers were outrebounded 60-41.

Blake Griffin has 22 points in first half as Clippers lead Rockets 64-62

Blake Griffin

Blake Griffin/Photo courtesy of Los Angeles Clippers, NBA.com

 

Blake Griffin scored 22 points on 9 of 12 shooting to help the Clippers take a 64-62 lead over the Houston Rockets into halftime of Game 6 of their Western Conference semifinals series at Staples Center.

The Clippers led by as many as nine points in the first quarter. But behind James Harden the Rockets came roaring back to lead the Clippers by six in the second quarter before the Clippers answered.

Chris Paul contributed 10 points and seven assists in the half.

Harden led the Rockets with 21 points and Dwight Howard scored 11 and grabbed nine rebounds.

Five things to take from Clippers’ 124-103 Game 5 loss to the Rockets

James Harden #13 of the Houston Rockets takes the ball by Blake Griffin #32 of the Los Angeles Clippers during Game Five of the Western Conference Semifinals at the Toyota Center for the 2015 NBA Playoffs on May 12, 2015 in Houston, Texas.   The Rockets won 124-103. (Photo by Scott Halleran/Getty Images)

Blake Griffin plays defense against James Harden of Houston in the Rockets’ 124-103 victory over the Clippers in Game 5 on Tuesday at Toyota Center in Houston/Photo by Scott Halleran, Getty Images

 

– The Rockets played much better defense in this one. The Clippers’ shooting percentage of 41.8 percent bears that out. What really sticks out is that J.J. Redick (3 of 12), Matt Barnes (1 of 8) and Jamal Crawford (2 of 10) were a combined 6 of 30 from the field. That equates to 20 percent for those three. Moreover, they were a combined 3 of 17 from 3-point range, with Redick going 1-for-8. The Rockets, by the way, shot 54.1 percent.

– With DeAndre Jordan getting into early foul trouble – he had his third foul early in the second quarter and fourth midway through the third – he was only able to play just a little more than 24 minutes. That was part of the reason why the Rockets scored more than half of their points – 64 – in the paint. That played right into the hands of James Harden and Dwight Howard. Harden had a triple-double with 26 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists and Howard scored 20 points and pulled down 15 rebounds.

– Speaking of rebounds, the Rockets blasted the Clippers on the boards, outrebounding them by a whopping 58-39 count. Besides Howard’s 15 and Harden’s 11, Josh Smith – who started at forward instead of Terrence Jones – had seven rebounds and Trevor Ariza pulled down eight. Blake Griffin had 16 for the Clippers and Jordan had 11, but no other player had more than five. That was Spencer Hawes.

– The reason the statistics are so much in favor of Houston is because, according to coach Doc Rivers, the Rockets played with a sense or urgency and the Clippers did not. Griffin, who had a good game with 30 points and those 16 rebounds, said his team played “like we had a couple of bullets in the chamber and we can’t do that.”

– With all this, there was actually a bit of good news. Chris Paul played 35 minutes and showed no signs that his left hamstring, which caused him to miss the first two games of this series, was bothering him. He scored 22 points on 9 of 16 shooting – 4 of 9 from 3-point range. He also doled out 10 assists.