NBA Playoffs, Rockets vs. Clippers Game 7: Recap and highlights (Video)
By Josh Hill
100. 77. 113. 169. Final
The Houston Rockets embarrassed the Los Angeles Clippers in Game 7 to earn the right to play in the Western Conference Finals next week.
When the Los Angeles Clippers lost Game 6, no one knew just how quickly they’d go belly up in Game 7. We all thought that this was going to be the Clippers year, as they stood the test against the Spurs in the opening round and they looked dominant against Houston early on in their series.
But the wheel came flying off and the Clippers went out in a blaze of awfulness in Game 7 on Sunday afternoon. Nothing went right for Los Angeles and every opportunity for the Houston Rockets to get points and build a lead was taken.
James Harden even got in on the defensive end of things — which is surprising if you’ve ever watched James Harden play defense.
While it was a total and complete team failure for the Clippers in Game 7, DeAndre Jordan was particularly awful. On two separate — of many — occasions, the Clippers were done in by horrid play by DeAndre Jordan. Late in the game, with Los Angeles utterly desperate for points, Jordan cost them two easy ones by trying to go for style over substance.
Earlier in the game, DeAndre Jordan straight up forgot to play defense, allowing an easy Rocketes bucket that simply breathing harder might have defended against.
Neither style nor substance was a big part of the Clippers game plan on Sunday afternoon and there will be a lot of questions asked about what they do this offseason. Los Angeles doesn’t have a first-round pick in the draft this year and they have to figure out if DeAndre Jordan is worth maxing out.
Just look how desperate the Clippers got late in the game against the Rockets.
Seriously?
This pretty much sums up the final two games of the Conference Semifinals for the Clippers.
But the problems for the Clippers are theirs and theirs alone, as the Houston Rockets dream season continues into the Western Conference Finals.
Houston was dominant in just about every facet on Sunday, and it’s something that the Warriors had best take notice of moving forward. Golden State won’t be push overs, and we’ve seen the Rockets play very bad basketball as recently as Game 1 of the Semifinals against Los Angeles.
No one is saying this will be a pretty series to watch, but it’s going to be damn fun to consume. James Harden and Steph Curry were the top two players in the NBA this season and the right to go the NBA Finals comes down to them.