As amazing as this series has been, it is only fitting for it to end in the most dramatic way possible. After losing game five, the Portland Trail Blazers still felt good about their chances in game six in Portland. After a back-and-forth contest as all of these games have been, it did come down to the coin flip aspect of this series. Who was going to make the biggest play of the night?
Fortunately for Portland, the Blazers came out on top and secured a second round berth for the first time since 2000. The Trail Blazers beat the Houston Rockets 99-98 and sent them packing.
Looking at the scoring split for each quarter, it is stupid just how close this game was. In both the first and the second quarters, Houston outscored Portland 29-28. In the third quarter, Portland outscored Houston 22-21. Finally, in the fourth quarter, Portland outscored Houston 21-19 and it turned out to be the difference. It is amazing to consider that the team who outscored the opposing team by two in a quarter, wins this game.
This game also followed the script of a Houston/Portland game except this time Portland jumped out to a 7-0 lead. LaMarcus Aldridge got going early and Wesley hit the first bucket of the night, which just happened to be a three. However, Houston, once again, jumped out to a ten-point lead in the first quarter and looked poised to increase it after stumbling at the beginning. Like all the other games, though, Houston could not hold it. Damian Lillard got hot in the first quarter and scored the final nine points of the quarter. The Rockets would only carry a one-point lead into the second quarter and that was going to be the story for the rest of the game.
You ever watch those games that if your team is up by four, it feels like a ten-point lead? That has been the case for the majority of this series. Outside of the first quarter, I do not think any team was ahead by more than four points until the fourth quarter. A great example is the second quarter. Portland stuck with Houston’s onslaught with the play of LA who went 4-for-6 in the quarter and had 11 points and four rebounds. Portland also shot 56% from the field, which always helps. Houston, however, would shoot a high percentage as well. They went 9-for-19 and shot 47% in the quarter, while going 9-for-12 at the line. James Harden had the hot stroke all night and had 11 points in the quarter as well.
Portland had a four point lead in the middle of the quarter, but thanks to the FT line, the Rockets countered back by getting themselves a four-point lead with 0:11 remaining in the second. For both teams, the moment their offense started cooling off, the other team pounced and pounced hard.
Houston would take a two-point lead at halftime and the feeling, yet again, was that the Rockets had everything going their way, yet they only had a two-point lead to show for it.
Portland shot 40% from the field in the third quarter, yet outscored Houston by one. LA and Damian continued to carry the team by combining for 17 points. However, James Harden and Dwight Howard continued being unstoppable. I’ll talk more about this relationship in a bit. Portland ended the quarter on a fantastic note as LA and Lillard both went on an offensive tear from the line and from deep. Again, Houston was ahead, but only by one. No team could get the “edge”.
The fourth quarter was something people will not forget for a while. The sequence of events that occurred and what they meant was only fitting for this series. Thanks to the hustle and energetic play of Thomas Robinson, the Blazers had a four-point lead at the beginning of the fourth quarter. But, it would not last long. Portland went into a small offensive cold spell and Houston tied the game up. It was at this time that head coach Terry Stotts started going to a different player, a player that has been almost forgotten on the offensive end in this series, Robin Lopez. Analysts and fans talk a lot about how abysmal James Harden’s defense is. He focuses all his energy on the offensive end and taking contact. Harden was guarding Lopez as Houston was forced to attempt to hide him because he was such a liability on the defensive end. Now, Lopez is not the best post-up offensive player out there, but James Harden could not even stop him. Two possessions in a row, Lopez converted on two buckets as they abused that matchup. Furthermore, Lopez got fouled and made both of his free-throws giving Portland a four-point lead with 5:03 remaining.
Houston went to their bread and butter, Dwight Howard. As much as I love Robin Lopez, Howard could do whatever he wanted. Portland fouled Howard twice, but Howard made all four of his free throws to tie the game back up at 91. Now, I am going to skip to the insanity that was the final 0:28 seconds of this game. To backtrack a little this game had some interesting sequences happen from a basketball rule standpoint. At the end of the third quarter, the clock started too early and the Rockets missed their tip in as they only had 0.9 remaining. Foreshadowing? The third quarter was over, but Portland was forced to play the “end” of the third quarter over again. It was a weird night.
With 0:28 second remaining, Harden did his standard isolation on one side. Wesley Matthews played fantastic defense and didn’t bite on any of Harden’s attempts to get a foul. Harden missed the shot and Portland had the rebound, but Lillard was the one to grab it and he stepped from out-of-bounds to get it. Now, with 0:04 seconds remaining, a mad scramble ensued as Harden once again missed a jumper, but in the scramble, Chandler Parsons leaked out and was able to get an easy lay-up to give Houston a two-point lead with 0.9 seconds remaining. Fans probably had a lot of emotions going through their head. Why did Batum fall asleep on defense and let Parsons through? Why is Portland in this position? For a good minute, Houston could not score and Howard missed a pair of free-throws. Problem was, Portland couldn’t score either.
Going into the final play, the feeling in the arena and probably in Portland was that Portland was going to go for the win. Houston would play LA hard as to prevent the lob or to make it hard to even get the ball into LA. Plus, fans probably had more confidence in the backcourt to make a three. Lillard was 5-for-9 from deep at the time and Batum has a knack for making the most ridiculous clutch threes. The play was so simple that it almost makes a person laugh. Lillard simply ran as fast as he could to the left wing and Parsons was just a step behind him. Lillard had open look for a split second and just let the ball go. It swished and the roof blew off.
It was such a fitting end to what was an amazing series. Countless mind-blowing plays, big shots and off-the-court drama really set the tone for this series. I was thinking during game six that I was surprised that Portland was able to pull off two wins in Houston to start with. Houston, in games five and six, were playing Rocket basketball. They were hitting three-pointers, getting into transition and feeding the beast in the middle.
Statistically, there is one stat that stands out that really cost Houston some points. At the beginning of the series, FT% was the one stat where Portland had a significant edge and it is funny how this series was mostly decided on that. Portland went 20-for-22 at the line including 10-for-10 from LA. Houston, on the other hand, went 23-for-31 and shot 74% from the line. Howard had been pretty solid at the line in the past couple of games, but he finished going 6-for-11.
If you look at most of the other stats, they were so close to each other. Houston shot 45% from the field, while Portland shot 43%. Portland shot 38% from three, while Houston shot 37%. Houston out-rebounded Portland 44-34, out-assisted Portland 19-14 and outscored Portland in the paint 46-32. The FT shooting, in the end, was the tipping point.
The MVPs for Portland were the all-stars. Damian Lillard finished with 25 points on 8-for-14 shooting, 6-for-10 from three, six rebounds, three assists, three steals and one block. Blazer fans know how good Lillard is, but they need to take a step back and realize what they are witnessing. In his first playoff series, Lillard averaged 25.5 points, 6.7 assists, 6.7 rebounds and surprisingly 1.3 steals. He shot 47% from the field in the whole series and shot a ridiculous 49% from three. Lillard is not only clutch and cold-blooded, but he dominated this series. He took his game to a higher level than even in the regular season and he is only 23. Yes, Portland effectively traded Gerald Wallace for Lillard.
The other all-star, LaMarcus Aldridge, squashed the notion of him being sub-par in the postseason. In game six, he finished with 30 points on 10-for-26 shooting and had 13 rebounds. After having a bad game in game five, where he only mustered eight points, LA stepped up to the plate once again and really gave the Houston defense issues. He had career-high postseason stats as he averaged 29.8 points and 11.2 rebounds. He shot 48% from the field. Those are Tim Duncan circa 2004 numbers maybe even slightly better. Do not forget that LA dropped two 40+ point games in Houston and, honestly, won the series for Portland early. Coming out the gate with that kind of attitude and offensive success put Houston on their heels almost immediately. You never got the sense that Houston had control at any point.
Now comes the question of what happened to Houston? If anything, they under-achieved considering who they got in the offseason and what was expected of them. First off, I think they played a fantastic series. If Houston can add another piece or even just figure out the relationship between Harden and Howard, they will be a force to reckon with.
However, there are a number of questions that I had once this series ended. One, what happens to Kevin McHale? He obviously got out-coached in this series and it was not more evident than in the final play of game six. Does Houston give him another shot? Or, do they look elsewhere? There are still some very nice coaching options out there. Lionel Hollins and George Karl still don’t have jobs. However, the current rumor is that McHale stays for at least another year.
Either way, whoever coaches needs to figure out how to play Harden and Howard together. There were a few times in this series where it seemed obvious that Houston was unsure when to go to Howard. You would have sequences of Howard scoring ten straight points, but then not touching the ball for the rest of the quarter. Personally, I think the coach needs to talk to Harden more than Howard. Harden was anything but spectacular in this series. I think a lot of the national media and analysts were disappointed in how Harden performed, particularly early in the series. He did average 26.8 points a game, but he only shot 38% from the field and 30% from deep. Plus, Harden’s defensive woes came to light multiple times. Harden also averaged 22.2 FGAs a game. In my opinion, that number needs to come down to about 15-17 attempts, there were too many times where Harden had the green light, but dribbled around too much or took an ill-advised shot. He depends too much on getting to the line that if he doesn’t get those calls, he ends up looking inefficient.
Houston’s bench needs improvement. Outside of the Linsanity throwback in game five where Jeremy Lin dropped 21, the bench for Houston has been pretty sub-par. I was surprised that they refused to play guys like Francisco Garcia or Omri Casspi. With Houston being the youngest team in the playoffs, having someone like Garcia out there might have helped calm the emotions. Their bench rotation consisted of, at first, Asik, Lin and Garcia. It changed to Lin, Jones and Daniels. Not the best rotation to say the least.
Troy Daniels is a great shooter and really broke out for game three and four, but after his 17 point game in game four, he only had five points the rest of the series.
Overall, it was a great series, but time to move on. Portland still does not know who they will be facing in the Western Conference Semi-Finals as the Dallas and San Antonio series still has not been decided. If Dallas were to win, Portland would actually get home-court advantage in the second round, which is optimal, however, San Antonio losing a game seven at home seems highly unlikely.
As to what team Portland would rather face, I do not think there is a “better” option here. Portland has had success with San Antonio in the past, but the Spurs in the playoffs are a whole other beast. Dallas is an eighth seed, but has had some success against Portland. Either way, Robin Lopez and Wesley Matthews become viable options going forward into this series. Lopez can become an offensive threat as Tiago Splitter and Samuel Dalembert are nowhere near being as dominant as Howard. Matthews, without having to chase James Harden around, will be helpful in its own right.
Enjoy this Portland fans. The 14-year wait is over and for once you can continue to root for your team past the first round. Stay tuned!