THE PALLILOG
Charlie Pallilo: Clutch Rockets take big win, but Paul injury could be devastating
May 25, 2018, 7:35 am
If Chris Paul can't return, Thursday night's win might be for naught. Rockets.com
Two games in a row that were excruciatingly intense and exhausting. And that was just watching them. After three non-close games to start the series, the Rockets and Warriors produced two epics this week with the Rockets taking both. But the Game 5 victory that has the Rockets within one more W of the NBA Finals could turn out to be a quintessentially Pyrrhic Victory. Pyrrhus was a Greek general who won an epic battle with the Romans, but suffered massive losses in the victory that caused grave damage going forward.
Chris Paul has a history of postseason injuries. If he is knocked out now by the hamstring injury suffered in the final minute of Game 5 this is by far the most devastating. And absolutely the cruelest since it was Paul’s second half magnificence that lifted the Rockets to be in position to win.
James Harden somehow missed all 11 of his three point attempts Thursday. Over the last four games he is a feeble 8 for 44. If Paul can’t go or is significantly hobbled, Harden will have to be tremendous in either Game 6 or 7 for the Rockets to win.
The Rockets Game 4 win in Oakland was one of the greatest in franchise history. Facing going down three games to one, trailing 12-0 out of the shoot, then by 12 early in the fourth quarter against the Warrior juggernaut at Oracle Arena where Golden State had won an NBA record 16 straight home playoff games? If the Warriors ultimately win the West again, it downgrades the ultimate importance of the win, but no one should try to un-ring the bell of what an in-the-moment accomplishment it was.
If the Rockets are to ultimately win the series, here’s hoping for an ABBA game Monday night. You know (or should). The Winner Takes It All. All of the Western Conference anyway. Most would expect the Rockets-Warriors victor to dispatch the Celtics or LeBrons with relative ease, though if it’s the Rockets involved Paul’s condition would have something to say about that.
Big stretch
The play-out of the Rockets-Warriors series is the rightfully dominant topic of interest right now, but the Astros keep going about their business racking up wins. As the schedule works out, the Astros are in the midst of a stretch of four consecutive series against what very well could turn out to be the other four American League playoff teams. The Astros spend the weekend in Cleveland. The Indians have been mediocre this season but mediocrity should be enough for the Tribe to again win what is a woeful AL Central. Next the Astros visit Yankee Stadium for the first time since their three game collapse there during the American League Championship Series. Then it’s back home for four vs. the Red Sox then two vs. the Mariners.
The Yanks and Sox both look like 100+ win teams. If so, we will have the best team of the two Wild Cards per league era. Imagine going 103-59 but finishing second in your division. That’s what happened to the San Francisco Giants in 1993. There was no Wild Card yet then. The AL East runner-up will have to survive the one game season of the Wild Card game, but that’s a lot better than not making the playoffs at all.
On a historic run
Justin Verlander doesn’t have Randy Johnson’s mullet. He doesn’t have Roger Clemens’s force of personality. Verlander is as stupendously great right now as the Big Unit or Rocket ever were. Giving up one earned run in six innings vs. the Giants Wednesday increased Verlander’s ERA to 1.08. No American League ERA champ has finished below 2.00 since the awesome Pedro Martinez posted a 1.74 in 2000 (with hitter friendly Fenway Park as his home field, and in the peak of the steroid era). Verlander’s career best ERA is 2.40 in 2011. That year he won both the American League Cy Young and Most Valuable Player awards. And Kate Upton turned 19.
Cup runneth over
Imagine if the 2002 Houston Texans had reached the Super Bowl. The expansion, David Carr running for his life almost every passing play Texans. Good one, right? Monday night the National Hockey League’s expansion Vegas Golden Knights have home ice advantage as they begin the Stanley Cup Final against the Washington Capitals. It’s already an incredible story. If the Knights actually win the Cup, it’s one of the most amazing team sports stories ever. This is the Capitals’ 43rd season. They have never won the Cup.
Buzzer Beaters
1. Indy 500 pick: Tony Kanaan. He was a good guest on the radio show this week. 2. Isn’t the NFL owners’ collective favorite color green? As opposed to red, white, and blue. 3. Best ever pro wrestling announcers: Bronze-Jim Ross Silver-Gordon Solie Gold-Bobby “The Brain” Heenan
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If you are a believer in the third time is a charm, go ahead and book the Texans for their first ever appearance in the AFC Championship game! Saturday is the Texans’ third crack at the Kansas City Chiefs in the playoffs. Of course, the Texans had a third time is the charm opportunity at advancing beyond the division round back in 2016 and came nowhere close. Charm will have nothing to do with the outcome at Arrowhead Stadium.
The Chiefs have administered the Texans’ two most humiliating postseason defeats in franchise history. They came as the bookend postseason appearances of Bill O’Brien’s tenure as head coach. In 2015, the Texans won the worst division in the AFC (that sounds familiar) but as a division champ got to play host to the Wild Card 11-5 Chiefs. The visitors were three-point favorites. They won by 30. 30-0 to be more precise. Knile Davis returned the opening kickoff 106 yards for a touchdown. It would have been in the Texans’ best interest to have forfeited right then and there. In what was not exactly a shocking development, Texans’ quarterback Brian Hoyer wasn’t up to the task, throwing for just 112 yards and four interceptions. On the Chiefs’ side third-year tight end Travis Kelce had eight receptions for 128 yards. Taylor Swift was not in attendance.
The second Texans-Chiefs playoff get together is the most incredible game in Texans’ history. The Texans showed up in Missouri fresh off the greatest comeback win in their history, having come from down 16-0 in the third quarter to best the Buffalo Bills in overtime. In what could safely be characterized as stunning, the Texans put up three first quarter touchdowns for a 21-0 lead. *Massive bonus points if you can name the three Texans who scored those TDs, answer below. A field goal made it 24-0 Texans with 10:54 left in the second quarter. In a collapse tough to pull off, the Texans would trail before halftime. The Chiefs scored four touchdowns in nine minutes and eleven seconds of game time, with that Kelce fellow scoring the last three of them. Some will recall O’Brien calling a fake punt from his own 31-yard line with the Texans up 24-7. Too soon? Justin Reid (now pursuing his third Super Bowl ring in three seasons as a Chief) was stopped short. An even more damning O’Brien moment came later in that game when he actually had to use a timeout to change his mind and go for it with 11:49 left in the fourth quarter, the Texans down 48-31, and facing fourth and four at the K.C. 42. That was a fire-able on the spot offense! Instead it took an 0-4 start to the 2020 season for O’Brien to be ousted. 51-31 Chiefs was the final score, and they went on to win the first of their three Super Bowl titles in the ongoing Andy Reid/Patrick Mahomes era.
Back to the present
Those routs were then, this is now. For a 15-2 team the Chiefs seem vulnerable. Maximum credit to them for having won an NFL record 16 consecutive games decided by eight or fewer points, 11 of them this season including their 27-19 victory over the Texans December 21. Perhaps the two-time defending champions were often bored with the regular season and often did just enough to win. The Texans would have been tied with them late in the third quarter had Ka’imi Fairbairn not botched an extra point. On the other hand, it was the play that got them within 17-16 which resulted in Tank Dell’s catastrophic season-ending knee injury. Who besides Nico Collins will do something in the passing game Saturday? Last Saturday the Texans’ pass rush harassed and flustered Chargers’ quarterback Justin Herbert. Mahomes is a different breed. Four weeks ago the Texans sacked Mahomes just once and did not intercept him. That seemingly must change for the Texans to pull off what be a shocker for most people. Saturday’s high temperature forecast for Kansas City is 25 degrees. Not ideal for the Texans but better than if the game had been scheduled for Sunday when the high is supposed to be 16.
Still standing
Four Texans who dressed for the debacle five years ago will suit up against the Chiefs Saturday: Laremy Tunsil and Tytus Howard who were in their first season with the team, Fairbairn, and long snapper Jon Weeks. Granted he’s just a long snapper (important role but not physically taxing), but Weeks is in his 15th season with the Texans and has yet to miss a game-244 regular season games (with Saturday his 14th playoff game, also without a miss). Presuming he is back next season, Weeks (who turns 39 next month) can crack the top five list of most consecutive games played in NFL history by answering the bell in the first 12 regular season games.
*The Texans’ three early TDS in the 51-31 loss at KC: 1. Kenny Stills with a 54-yard reception 2. Lonnie Johnson with a 10-yard return of a blocked punt 3. Darren Fells with a four-yard grab
For Texans’ conversation, catch Brandon Strange, Josh Jordan, and me on our Texans On Tap podcasts. Thursdays feature a preview of the upcoming game, and then we go live (then available on demand) after the final gun of the game: Texans on Tap - YouTube
The Astros are always in season for discussion. Our Stone Cold ‘Stros podcasts drop Mondays: Click here to watch!