HOUSTON — Mother Nature spent most of the Rockets do-or-die playoff Saturday drenching the Houston downtown area and beyond. And when it came time for the out-of-town Thunder to come down one final time inside the sold-out Toyota Center after blowing every last bit of a 26-point lead, the city’s hoopdom community was left high and first-round dry once again.
Sure, it was a valiant spunky comeback from the Kiddie Corp. aiming for a sudden reversal of fortune against the resident Western Conference kingpins. But a collective kick to the groin nonetheless.
“We were down 26 and we almost came all the way back and won the game,” said nuclear sub Francisco Garcia. “That shows a lot about my team. It’s just one game at a time now.”
More specifically, it’s one inevitable loss from first-round elimination for the eighth time in nine playoff series since John Stockton delivered the death dagger to Clutch City in 1997.
It’s one loss from a swift sweep in the Rockets first playoff series in four years. Small consolation that the youngest team in the Association is but a few precious possessions away from enjoying a 2-1 edge in the best-of-seven and sending shock waves through the Western playoff bracket.
But the reality is that Rocketball lost their collective composure for the opening 12:00 of Game 3 knowing the margin for postseason survival was ever so slight in the pivot point of the series. They lost their second straight three-point verdict despite holding the lead in the final two minutes. They lost for a third straight time even after OKC lost bullet train-to-the-rim Russell Westbrook and his 23 points per game.
“This is the second game in a row we felt we should have won,” said Chandler Parsons.
Should have, perhaps. Maybe. But did not, obviously. And they have no one to blame but those in the mirror.
Even after methodically slicing down a 26-point deficit after Kevin Durant had diced and jujitsu-ed Parsons in single coverage for 17 points first period and 27 by the break. The Rockets balled all the way back for only their second lead of the game at 94-93 in the final 3:30 courtesy a third final period 3-ball from Carlos Delfino. And again moved in front with 45 seconds to go when Garcia ripped from distance for nothing but net and 99-97.
Alas, it was their last lead.
“They’ve been in the finals. They’re a great team,” said Garcia. “I didn’t think they would fall back or get frustrated. I trust tried to keep Durant in front of me and he hit a great shot.”
He hit a zero-hesitation straightaway 3-pointer gut-punch that first hit seemingly every portion of the rim, bouncing once high above the backboard, then bounced again, and even a third time before falling through the cords, the last of his 41 points to match his career-playoff best and logging all but 45 seconds of the duration.
Durant: “The Lord was with us.”
Former tag-team partner James Harden: “He just made a lucky shot.”
Harden was not especially lucky in his most important moments as a Rocket, nor as overtly effective as the team-high 30 points would suggest. Particularly in crunch time.
Starting with an 0-2 trip to the foul line with 5:01 to go and the board even at 91-91 (Harden shot 84% in the final 5:00 during the regular season). Then two careless turnovers in the last 1:45 when each time his team trailed by just a point.
“Just terrible basketball plays,” said Harden.
Terrible, if not atrocious, were the Rockets out of the launch. Outscored 39-19 in a foul-fest first period which started just :29 in with a blatant “message” from Kendrick Perkins laid at midcourt on Westbrook knockout artist Patrick Beverley. Followed by Joey Crawford’s instantaneous technical on Garcia for barking from the bench. Not complete until 16 combined team fouls were registered and a second tech (on Kevin McHale) before the end of the period.
Beverley was the chief recipient. Slapped with two personals midway through the quarter. And a third at 2:31 to render the first half of his Game 3 insignificant.
When asked if the officiating was tight in the wake of the Westbrook incident which ended his postseason Beverley said, “I don’t know. It’s my first rodeo so I don’t know. But I do know the fouls really killed us. When you get in foul trouble like that it’s really hard to play defense and try to keep them out of the paint and be aggressive at the same time. But we’re professional basketball players. You have to adjust to it and second half we did.”
The adjustment on Durant was in large part Garcia taking the inenviable one-on-one assignment during a third period when OKC was hardly OK – 5-for-25 and scoring but 38 points in the second half after that 39-point explosion in the first quarter.
“We got aggressive,” said McHale. “We actually did what we said we were going to do. Push him (Durant) to people. Early in the game we had no pressure. We tried to bring help but he was straight-line driving past everybody, past the help, past everybody.”
Garcia: “We just had to keep fighting. We fought through.”
Fought to the closing ticks. And fight is perhaps all that’s left to show before OKC belts-out the series KO.
“They still have to beat us one more time,” said Parsons. “That’s our mentality going in there (Game 3 Monday night). It’s a one game series from now on.”
A set essentially decided deep in the Houston night when one final deep corner bomb from Delfino which would have forced overtime was off-target. A winnable game not seized. A deal all but sealed. No team in the NBA playoff history has erased 0-3 to advance. And these Rockets certainly won’t be the jaw-dropping groundbreakers.
“It’s tough,” said Garcia barely above a hush in the near empty Rockets locker room. “It’s frustrating. But we have to go to the next one now.”
Keith Calkins is a longtime sports journalist from Houston. This is his debut column for SheridanHoops.com. Follow him on Twitter.