The NBA playoffs continue and the vanquished are falling by the wayside. Here’s last night’s wrap.
Utah Jazz 96 LA Clippers 92
Gordon Hayward returned from his bout of food poisoning and lead the Jazz past the Clippers at the Staples Centre. Hayward attacked from the tip off and spearheaded a balanced Utah offence in which six players scored over 10 points.
It was Hayward who set the tone – scoring 11 of his 27 points in the first quarter – but it was the contribution of Rodney Hood, Rudy Gobert and Joe Johnson which allowed Utah to claim a tight victory.
Johnson is becoming a constant thorn in the Clippers side as he scored 14 points of the bench – including a clutch mid-range jumper which put the Jazz up by 5 with 19.2 seconds to play. Gobert did the dirty work inside – patrolling the paint with his customary menace – registering 2 blocks and 5 steals to go with an 11 point double double.
Australian wing Joe Ingles turned in a typically selfless performance for the Jazz providing outstanding perimeter defence while young point guard Dante Exum was limited to just 4 minutes off the bench.
For the Clippers big nights from Chris Paul – 29 points and 9 assists – and JJ Redick who had 26 points were not enough. The Clippers bench was outscored 36-17 by Utah’s reserves and that proved to be the difference between the two squads.
Utah has seized control of the series and will have a chance to close it out in Salt Lake City on Friday night.
Oklahoma City Thunder 99 Houston Rockets 105
The Rockets joined the Warriors and Cavaliers in the second round as they closed out the Thunder in 5 games with a 105-99 victory.
James Harden had 34 points and 8 rebounds while Russell Westbrook had a near triple double with 47 points, 11 rebounds and 9 assists. However, both MVP candidates endured poor shooting nights going a combined 7 for 31 from beyond the arc.
Harden in particular struggled from the floor but relied on his ability to get to the free throw line to keep Houston’s offence ticking over. In addition he had outstanding performances from Lou Williams and Nene who added a combined 36 points off the bench.
Westbrook has had no such luxury through out the series. Whenever he has sat the Rockets have feasted on the Thunder’s supporting cast – last night was no different. When Westbrook went to the bench at the start of the fourth OKC had a 5 point lead – when he returned to the game they were trailing by 5.
However, Westbrook was not blameless in this defeat. Having scored 20 points in the third quarter, Russ was ice cold in the fourth – making just 2 of 11 shots – repeatedly chucking up 3 pointers early in the shot clock rather than letting any sort play develop.
This game was in many ways a perfect microcosm of Westbrook’s season. Unbelievable statistics but just unable to will his team past more balanced opposition. He will wonder if he had trusted his teammates more the outcome would have been different. In reality this Houston team is just better and Westbrook can be proud of his performances all season.
Memphis Grizzlies 103 San Antonio Spurs 116
Kawhi Leonard and Patty Mills lead the Spurs to 13-point victory over the resurgent Grizzlies to reclaim control of their first round series.
Having lost both games in Memphis it was crucial that San Antonio defended their home court and they did so despite a furious fourth quarter rally from the Grizzlies.
Leonard was outstanding again – pouring in 28 points on 9 of 16 shooting – as the Spurs built an 11 point lead entering the final period. However, this Grizzlies squad showed the toughness that allowed them to level the series as they pulled to within 5 behind Mike Conley’s 26 points.
Enter Patty Mills. The Aussie sharpshooter was outstanding down the stretch as the Spurs pulled away. Mills scored 20 points – including 5 of 7 from downtown – making numerous clutch baskets in the fourth quarter to help San Antonio reestablish their lead.
Mills lead a bench unit – with help of Manu Ginobli and Pau Gasol – that scored 42 points and proved the difference between the teams.
The series switches back to Memphis on Thursday night where San Antonio will be hoping to close out the series and set up an enticing second round match up with the Rockets.
Swampy
Guest
In all honesty, RW showed why one man can't win a series alone. Regardless of how good or poor Russ' teammates are, they lost the ability to function without him. And I would say this is RW's fault. By not trusting and sharing the workload RW actually made his teammates worse players than they actually are and they lost as a result. We already have historical examples of these players in action - Wilt, Oscar, Jordan, Melo to name a few. Until Jordan accepted he needed a team to get past Detroit - he couldn't. Once he did, he won 6 titles. It's the ultimate be a better team mate example. Maybe it's Billy Donovan's fault - he may be a modern day Doug Collins. Perhaps OKC need to find the modern day Phil Jackson (that just sounds wrong) to get more success from the human meteor. Regardless, when you speak of most valuable - this series was every argument you could ever want for the argument against Westbrook winning most valuable. Before this series I was pro Westbrook for MVP. He is also my favourite player to watch. But he lost this series on his own - comfortably.
express34texas
Guest
Astro, good points, but I think the 'selfish' commment is a bit much. It's obvious he needs to shoot a lot, and I have no problem with that, even if is shooting pct. isn't that great. It's not a matter of being selfish or unselfish or the # of shots he takes. The problem I have is the quality of shots he takes, which he doesn't need to take. He took different types of shots in the 4th than through the first 3 quarters. Maybe he's fatigued. He's a smaller player, and smaller players fatigue quicker on average than bigger players. I suspect this is the main reason why he's never been able to play super high minutes. And I thought his teammates got better as the series went on. Games 2-5 were all winnable games by both teams. It's hard to criticize RW, but he does some really dumb things sometimes, and if he changed a few easily-fixable things, OKC probably wins the series. Oscar, RW does seem to be a great leader. No leader is perfect, though. I suspect every supposed great leader in the nba gave a wry smile at a teammate before. I'm sure it can be a bit nerve-wrecking to play with a great player at times, RW included. OKC has RW signed for at least 2 more years. They've already added some pieces. I bet they add some more this offseason. As long as GS stays remotely a similar team for future seasons, it's really hard to see any other team supplant them. CLE was quite fortunate to come back from down 3-1 vs GS last year and Irving played out of his mind. CLE or any other East team has a huge advantage. The East is much easier with no other true contenders. A team like HOU, who had the 3rd best record in the nba, only gets the #3 seed in the West. They have to get through a dangerous OKC squad led by MVP RW, then 61-win SA, then 67-win GS. If they somehow do all of that, they probably have to go against CLE. That's 3, maybe 4, tough series. CLE will have to beat a couple of so-so teams in the East. But, if BOS is their main competition in the East, that doesn't look very difficult for them to make the Finals.
Oscar Moore
Roar Pro
It's hard to be critical of Russ when he's had such an amazing season. The Thunder have played the same way all year (rely on Russ to be russ) and it's pretty hard to make that adjustment in the playoffs. But I think he is sometimes a bit hard on his teammates on the floor - he's always super supportive in interviews etc. - but did you see the look he gave Oladipo when he threw a pass out of bounds. Would like to see him to become more of a leader in that way next year. I love watching him play when he is this all action do everything point guard but he really needs some more help next year if they are gonna make the next step. Wonder if he'll even stay in OKC that much longer?
astro
Guest
Agree, Texas. Think Harden's ankle injury slowed him down...will be interesting to watch him next round. As for RW, this series was the perfect example of why he should be MVP and why he shouldn't be MVP. Amazing play, incredible stats, all the effort and heart he could give...yet his team loses in 5, he takes way to many horrible shots (43 shots in Game 2 was selfish and insane), and his teammates seemed to play worse as the series went on.
express34texas
Guest
With all due respect to RW's teammates, RW played absolutely phenomenal. But, he certainly could've played smarter and better, particularly in 4th quarters. I don't think it's a matter of trusting or not trusting his teammates, it was a matter of him not running the offense in the 4th as much and chucking up bad shots, especially he's a poor 3-point shooter. I'm not sure why he changed the way he played in most of the 4th quarters in the series. I was confused by that. The problem when RW went to the bench for OKC was more defensively than offensively, though they were bad in both areas. Most of the starters were sitting at the same time RW was sitting, and OKC's bench is terrible defensively. OKC should've had in some combination of Adams, Roberson, Gibson, and Oladipo(at least 2-3 of these 4 at all times) when RW was on the bench. Harden had some struggles, too, but played brilliant overall. He outplayed RW in games 1/3, and played half the series with a bum ankle.