Rockets surge past no-LeBron Cavs, prove big comebacks can be dull
The Cleveland Cavaliers have not been hurtling towards the playoffs in first gear, having lost two of their previous five prior to Tuesday’s visit from the Houston Rockets. Occasional struggles have allowed the similarly stumbling Toronto Raptors to hang around in the race for the top spot in the East, ensuring that questions about the Cavs’ ability to run through their postseason opponents for a second-straight year will persist until they actually accomplish it. They’re still favored to make the finals, but confidence is not especially high.
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Tuesday’s contest looked like a step in the right direction early on despite the resting of the red-hot LeBron James. Cleveland out-scored Houston 34-15 in the second quarter and led by as many as 20 in the third before entering the final period up 84-71. It had the makings of a solid win over a team with plenty to play for, especially with Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love leading the offense as LeBron watched in street clothes.
Instead, the Cavs and their fans left Quicken Loans Arena wondering exactly what it will take for this team to put together a consistent run of good form. The Rockets dominated the fourth quarter, cutting the margin to six within two minutes, tying on a Dwight Howard free throw with a little more than four minutes left, and taking a 94-91 on a Patrick Beverley three-pointer one possession later. Kyrie Irving managed to tie it on a three-pointer roughly 90 seconds later, but that was one of the few bright spots for the Cavs late. The defense gave up open shots to many different Rockets and the offense lacked cohesion and appeared confused. In the end, the Rockets took the fourth 35-16 to capture a surprising 106-100 win.
One sequence late evinced everything that the Cavs lacked in crunch time. Down 98-97 after an Irving three with 1:30 remaining, Cleveland forced James Harden into a tough late-clock attempt and held the ball with a chance to take the lead in the final minute. Irving held the ball for several seconds to go one-on-one and couldn’t create anything as the Rockets trapped effectively and rotated to trouble Tristan Thompson on a potential go-ahead lay-up at the rim. At the other end, Houston moved the ball perfectly to get Trevor Ariza a back-breaking three. Take a look:
Unfortunately for neutrals, the Rockets generally lacked that level of excellence during a startlingly dull comeback. Most possessions involved various players going one-on-one, Howard getting fouled, or transition buckets against an all-too-willing Cleveland defense. It says something that the spark that pushed the Rockets to the comeback came from journeyman punchline Michael Beasley, who put in 17 points and eight rebounds in 27 minutes.
The win is very meaningful to the Rockets, who now sit a half-game ahead of the idle Dallas Mavericks at 37-38. At the same time, it’s difficult to consider this comeback win a springboard to a playoff berth, because they have done similar things before this season and followed soon after with losses against demonstrably worse teams. Thursday’s home game against the Bulls should prove interesting — both teams are fighting to salvage disappointing seasons, coming off narrow wins in crunch time, and trying to undo whatever terrible mojo has troubled them for six months. Someone will have to do something right.
The Cavs will try to bounce back Thursday vs. the Brooklyn Nets, presumably while contending with the activated LeBron’s overwhelming disappointment:
It’s a favorable matchup for Cleveland, but they lost to that same Nets squad in Brooklyn just last week. No opponent is especially easy for the Cavaliers right now, and it would be foolish for them to take anyone lightly when so many aspects of the club appear dysfunctional. It was fitting that the Rockets iced the game after Tristan Thompson tried to put Dwight Howard on the line with this flying headlock on a late Irving free throw:
Thompson was assessed a flagrant, perhaps as a symbolic gesture summarizing the game as a whole.
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Eric Freeman is a writer for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
