NBA WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS
John Granato: Media Alert -- the Rockets won, and that is all that matters
May 24, 2018, 6:25 am
You’d have thought the Rockets lost Game 4 by 41 again the way our calls went Wednesday morning. James Harden didn’t do this. James Harden didn’t do that. My goodness. I’m James’ biggest critic and I couldn’t have cared less that he didn’t do anything in the fourth quarter. Matter of fact I’m glad he didn’t. It’s why they won.
Game 5 against the Jazz and Game 4 against the Warriors is why the Rockets brought Chris Paul here. He took over the offense in both fourth quarters and ran it the way it should be run. Yes there was plenty of isolation. It’s what they do. But Paul’s iso and James’ iso are very different.
When Paul runs the offense it seems like everyone stays involved. Sure he will massage the ball sometimes like James does and have to jack up the occasional 3. That happened with 7:17 left in the game and the Rockets down 5. He made it and it was to that point the biggest shot in the game.
Just over a minute later he drove the baseline and threw a beautiful pass to Trevor Ariza who pump faked and dropped another 3 that put the Rockets up 1.
With 2:27 left Paul found Eric Gordon all alone for a dagger 3 that put the Rockets up 5. It’s all they would need to pick up the biggest win the franchise has had in 23 years.
Those two assists were huge but he only had four the whole game. Four assists with 3 turnovers is not a great ratio. He’s normally a lot more efficient but it was an ugly game and a lot of potential assists clanked aimlessly off the rim. And why pass when you’re the game’s best shooter? He was 10 for 20 from the field and 5 for 9 from 3.
I don’t know if you’ve heard but this is Chris Paul’s first conference finals. Those numbers are not the numbers of a guy who can’t handle the big stage. This moment is not too big for him. Maybe it was in the past. You can look at some of his playoff moments and argue that. You can’t make that argument now.
When he came here the question was whether or not he and James could coexist. They both need the basketball to be effective. Isolation is a lonely word. It’s not something two people can do at the same time so they have to take turns.
My radio partner Lance Zierlein made the argument that James was too passive in that fourth quarter. The intimation is that he’s not an alpha and shrivels in big moments. I don’t think that’s a hot take. We’ve got plenty of evidence that James struggles in big moments: the 2012 NBA Finals, the 2015 WCF, Game 6 vs the San Antonio Spurs last year.
You’ll notice in those examples that Game 6 vs the Clippers in the ‘15 WC semis was omitted. He sat the entire fourth quarter while Josh Smith and company brought the Rockets back from double digits to beat them. James shined in Game 7 as the Rockets advanced to the WCF where he had his monumental turnover meltdown in Game 5.
Many of James’ detractors include that Game 6 in his negative bio but I don’t because they won. Other guys have to step up and help. Not everyone can play great in every game every time. We make a big deal out of Elimination James but Jeff Van Gundy pointed out to us that you don’t get to those big games without James. Why are those bad games so much more important than the ones that the Rockets won while James played great?
I don’t think Game 4 against the Warriors the other night falls into that category either. Yes he was just 1 for 4 in the 4th quarter and didn’t even attempt a shot in the quarter until he drove and scored with 4:11 left in the game. Then he missed three straight 3’s, one of which was a wide open look that could have iced the game. Had the Rockets lost it would have been more damning evidence in the trial of James Harden’s big game woes.
But they won. I repeat. They won.
The reason was that James subjugated his game to Chris Paul and let him run the show in the fourth. We’ve been saying all along that James couldn’t win it all by himself. No one can anymore. The last time a team with just one star won it all was seven years ago when Dirk Nowitzki led the Mavs over the Heat. That’s the aberration. Not even Michael Jordan won it until Scottie Pippen got there.
Chris Paul is James Harden’s Scottie Pippen and the other night is why he’s here. When James is on the bench or having an off night Paul is there to pick up the slack. He’s a Hall of Famer. But James isn’t Michael. He’s not an alpha dog. Chris Paul is though. He’s always been an alpha dog. James? Not so much. And? Who cares? As long as they win.
Game 4 was a microcosm of James’ career. After trailing early he had a huge second quarter that gave the Rockets a nine-point lead. Without that burst the Rockets get blown out. He was the leading scorer in the game but he couldn’t knock down a big shot in crunch time. That’s a game they would have lost last year or the year before.
Enter Chris Paul.
Exit with arguably the most improbable win in team history. After losing by 41 to a team that had the longest home playoff win streak in league history you couldn’t find many people who thought the Rockets would compete let alone win. By gametime they were 9 point underdogs. You will be hard pressed to find 65-win teams who will get 9 points but the Rockets are a huge underdog that’s now two wins away from taking out the champs.
Maybe it wasn’t James’ finest moment. If they win it all the trophy is going to say Houston Rockets not James Harden. It’s still a team game and the team won. That’s all that matters.
Road teams made a stand on Monday, and a pair of series are suddenly knotted up.
Day 3 of the NBA playoffs was about the visitors. Kawhi Leonard scored 39 points — his most in any game since December 2023, his most in a playoff game since 2021 — to lift the Los Angeles Clippers past Denver 105-102. And in New York, Cade Cunningham scored 33 points, Dennis Schröder had a big 3-pointer with 55.7 seconds left and Detroit beat the Knicks 100-94 for its first playoff win in 17 years.
Those series are now tied at a game apiece, heading back to L.A. and Detroit.
There are three games on Tuesday, with Indiana playing host to Milwaukee, Oklahoma City hosting Memphis and the Los Angeles Lakers hosting Minnesota. The Pacers and Thunder are seeking 2-0 leads; the Lakers will try to make it 1-1 before the series shifts to Minnesota.
All times Eastern
7 p.m. — Milwaukee at Indiana (NBA TV)
7:30 p.m. — Memphis at Oklahoma City (TNT/truTV)
10 p.m. — Minnesota at L.A. Lakers (TNT/truTV)
All times Eastern
7 p.m. — Orlando at Boston (TNT/truTV)
7:30 p.m. — Miami at Cleveland (NBA TV)
9:30 p.m. — Golden State at Houston (TNT/truTV)
All times Eastern
7 p.m. — New York at Detroit (TNT)
9:30 p.m. — Oklahoma City at Memphis (TNT)
10 p.m. — Denver at L.A. Clippers (NBA TV)
Oklahoma City (+175) is favored to win the NBA title, according to BetMGM Sportsbook, followed closely by Boston (+200). After that, it's Cleveland (+600), Golden State (+1400), the Los Angeles Lakers (+1600), the Los Angeles Clippers (+2000), New York (+4000), Minnesota (+4000) and Denver (+5000).
Denver's odds took a big hit after the Nuggets lost Game 2 at home to the Clippers — whose odds, in turn, improved greatly.
From there, it's Indiana (+8000), Houston (+10000), Milwaukee (+15000), Detroit (+35000), then Miami, Memphis and Orlando (all +100000).
Golden State, the No. 7 seed in the Western Conference, is favored (-375) to win its series against No. 2 seed Houston. The Warriors entered that matchup favored, and Sunday's win moved those odds even more.
Other underdogs now favored to advance: Minnesota and the Clippers.
The first of the major NBA awards comes out on Tuesday, when the league announces the sixth man of the year — either Detroit's Malik Beasley, Cleveland's Ty Jerome or Boston's Payton Pritchard.
It’ll be revealed at 7 p.m. Eastern on TNT.
The other awards this week: clutch player (Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. Eastern on TNT), defensive player of the year (Thursday at 6:30 p.m. Eastern on TNT), and the hustle awards (Friday at 2 p.m.).
April 26 — NBA early entry deadline.
May 3 — Earliest possible start date for Round 2 of the playoffs. Series could also start on May 4, May 5 or May 6.
May 12 — Draft lottery, Chicago.
May 18 or 20 — Game 1, Western Conference finals.
May 19 or 21 — Game 1, Eastern Conference finals.
June 5 — Game 1, NBA Finals. (Other games: June 8, June 11, June 13, June 16, June 19 and Game 7, if necessary, will be June 22.)
June 25 — NBA draft, first round.
June 26 — NBA draft, second round.
— Preview of Tuesday's games: Pacers-Bucks, Thunder-Grizzlies, Lakers-Timberwolves.
— Tom Thibodeau isn't happy with how Game 2 was officiated.
— Mavs GM Nico Harrison didn't know how beloved Luka Doncic was in Dallas.
— The NBA finalists for seven awards are released.
— The playoffs could be wide-open. Again.
— A look inside the numbers of this season, headed into the playoffs.
— Cleveland's Kenny Atkinson wins NBCA coach of the year award.
— The Pistons snapped a 15-game playoff losing streak. Another loss would have tied the NHL's Chicago Blackhawks (1975-79) for the second-longest in U.S. pro sports at 16. The playoff-futility record is held by baseball's Minnesota Twins, who once dropped 18 straight.
— The last time Detroit won a playoff game before Monday, LeBron James was 249th on the all-time scoring list and Gregg Popovich was 19th on the all-time coaching wins list. They're both No. 1 now by wide margins.
— Strange but true: The last three playoff triple-doubles have come in losing efforts. Nikola Jokic had one Monday night in Denver's loss to the Clippers and Luka Doncic's final two playoff ones for Dallas last season — one against Minnesota in the West finals, the other against Boston in the NBA Finals — both were in losses.