Rockets Fire Past Thunder, 114-80, Clasp 3-2 Series Lead
Tale of Two Halves. The Schrode to Nuttiness. Closing Time.
“All right, Mr. Demille, I’m ready for my close-up,” one of the final quotes from the classic film Sunset Boulevard. The Rockets got one step closer to letting the sun set on the Thunder’s season, with a convincing 114-80 beatdown in Game 5. The 80-points is the lowest the squad’s held an oppenent this season, and the least amount of points any team’s scored in the playoffs, thus far. Russell Westbrook’s imapct on defense gets overlooked too often. The Rockets are immensley more efficent defensively with Brodie on the floor. Houston now leads the series 3-2, and is one win away from advancing to the conference semis to play the Lakers. James Harden had 31 points on an efficient 11-for-15 shooting from the field to lead Houston. Robert Covington found his shooting rhythm from deep, nailing a career-high six threes, en route to 22 points. Eric Gordon continues to struggle from distance but strayed from taking too many threes. EG continues to be aggressive driving it with ferocity to the hoop. With 20 points, Flash Gordon joined Harden and RoCo as the only other Rockets to hit the 20-point mark. Unsurprisingly, in his first game since August 11th, Russell Westbrook was rusty. Brodie finished with 7 points in only 23 minutes. Expect Russ to be more aggressive and closer to attack mode in Game 6. Houston’s going to need Westbrook’s explosiveness in a difficult closing game. Despite the final score, Game 5 wasn’t always one-sided… until the midway point.
At halftime, Houston only held a three-point lead, 48-45. But the Rockets came blazing out of the gates in the second half, starting the third quarter on a 19-3 to a seize advantage of the game. Dennis Schroder led the way for OKC with 19 points, and this game could have gone differently if the NBA’s Sixth Man didn’t go nutty. A little past the midway-point in the third quarter, Schroder decided to strike P.J. Tucker with a thunderous shot to the man-region. As the nuttiness ensued, P.J. understandably upset about the incident, gave Dennis a slight head-butt, and as a result both players were ejected from the game. A decision that came in Houston’s favor. OKC doesn’t have enough firepower to keep up with the Rockets without their best scorer in this series. Houston were already up 17 points when the game went nuts, but the Rockets grasped complete control en-route to their biggest blowout in franchise a history, a 34-point display of destruction. Which puts the squad one win from advancing to play the Lakers in the second round.
At the moment, Houston’s in control of the series. All they have to do is beat Chris Paul and this Thunder team one more. Something that’s easier said than done. The Rockets have to approach Game 6 with a Game 7 “win-or-go-home” mindset. Houston is the better team, and if they play focused should finish off the Thunder in Game 6. Game 7’s are dangerous. Anything can happen. And OKC is the best closing team in crunch time of close games in the NBA. Every close game has been won by the Thunder, while the Rockets have all had blow-out victories. LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers await whoever comes out of this battle. Houston can’t take OKC lightly in Game 6. With a Thunder win in the next game, LA gets more rest and time to scout H-Town’s small-ball scheme. And Houston is pushed to the brink in a Game 7 situation where anything can happen. If the Rockets want to contend against one of the NBA’s best, they need to finish off the OKC in Game 6. After a dominant performance in Game 5… Houston’s ready to close this series up in six.