There are all sorts of code words players use to explain what transpired on the court. After the Rockets successfully avoided elimination Tuesday night at the Toyota Center with a 124-103 win over the Los Angeles Clippers, James Harden described their play as diffident, even though we disagree.
“We weren’t aggressive enough the first four games,” Harden said after the game. “We were timid. They have really good bigs. We made a conscious effort to go into attack mode.”
Harden — battling a cold, so playing in shorter stretches during Game 5 — was certainly that during his 26-point, 11-rebound, 10-assist night. His trademark euro-step still leaves us agog, even though we’ve seen it hundreds of times:
He struggled from deep (1-of-8), so was spending more time inside the arc, but the team as a whole wasn’t attacking any more than they did in a Game 4 blowout. They attempted close to the same percentage of shots near the restricted area as they did in Los Angeles. To wit:
Except, last night they were simply hitting those shots close to the rim:
While it’s nice to think the Rockets were in attack mode, and Harden certainly was because he couldn’t knock down a triplet, they were just more accurate. Not sure if Harden was talking more attitude over actual numbers and shot locations, but they weren’t meek last night — even if Dwight called for defensive help at a weird time.
Still, when you’re taking IV’s before the game, like Beard did before Game 5, a win is a win, even if he was “battling a cold that had him coughing and gasping” throughout the game; hence, the pithy bursts McHale gave him on the court.
The Rockets live to fight another day, and Staples Center is their reward. They can attack all they want, but until they’re knocking down shots with efficiency as DeAndre Jordan looms, it could be more of the same in their return to Los Angeles.
Game 6 is Thursday night at 10:30 p.m. EST.
(Via Houston Chronicle)
