No. 1: Harden ‘ready to go’ for Game 5 — The Houston Rockets are one playoff
win away from reaching the Western Conference semifinals. To pull that off,
they’ll need everyone ready to go, starting with All-Star guard James Harden.
After the Rockets won Game 4, word circulated that Harden was playing in that
game with an ankle injury. He says he’ll be ready for Game 5 tonight (8 ET,
TNT):
Houston Rockets guard James Harden revealed that it’s been difficult for him to
get a burst on drives to the basket since he rolled his ankle in Game 3 of the
first-round series against the Oklahoma City Thunder, but he vowed he’ll be
ready to go for Tuesday’s Game 5.
“Got some treatment, and I’ll be ready to go tomorrow,” Harden said before
Monday’s practice.
Harden went 5-for-16 from the field, including 0-for-7 from 3-point range, for
16 points in the Rockets’ 113-109 win in Game 4 on Sunday. It was the fewest
points Harden has scored in this postseason.
“It’s the playoffs, everybody is banged up, so you just got to find a way to
fight through it and find a way to help your teammates win games,” Harden said.
“For me, it’s not necessarily scoring. I don’t have to score a certain amount of
points as long as I’m making the right plays and guys are getting shots,
everybody is in a good rhythm — that’s all that matters.”
* * *
UPDATE, 3:02 p.m. — Gordon Hayward explains how and when he got sick (and not
in much detail, thankfully) and says he’s ready to go tonight for Game 5 against
the Clippers …
No. 2: Hayward travels to L.A., could play in Game 5 — There were two
storylines that shaped the Utah Jazz’s Game 4 win on Sunday against the LA
Clippers. First, was the stomach flu that forced Jazz star Gordon Hayward out of
the game after playing a handful of minutes. The second was Joe Johnson’s play
down the stretch to seal Utah’s win. As Game 5 tonight nears (10:30 ET, TNT),
Hayward may be able to suit up for it, writes Tony Jones of The Salt Lake
Tribune:
As of late Monday afternoon, the Utah Jazz hadn’t commented officially on Gordon
Hayward’s status for Tuesday’s Game 5 against the Los Angeles Clippers at
Staples Center.
Still — despite the bout with food poisoning that cost Hayward most of Sunday’s
Game 4 — the All-Star forward is expected to travel with the team to Los
Angeles. So chances are, he will be available and ready to play.
Hayward went home at halftime of Sunday’s Game 4, which ended in a 105-98 Jazz
win. He spent the night and the first part of Monday in his bed trying to
recover.
“Even when he was sick, there wasn’t any way Gordon wasn’t going to try and give
it a go,” Jazz coach Quin Snyder said. “It shows how he feels about the team,
his teammates and this playoff experience. I took him out at one point to give
him a blow, but I knew after the first quarter there wasn’t much there. There
wasn’t anything he could play through, he was just so depleted.”
…
If Hayward is able to play in Game 5, and look more like himself, it will give
Jazz a boost in what looks to be the most critical game of the series. Hayward
scored 40 points in Game 3, lighting the Clippers up from all over the floor. In
Game 4, he looked a shell of himself. He had no explosion in the open floor, he
was slow defensively and his only make from the field was a 3-pointer from the
corner in the opening minutes.
“It’s beyond next man up for us,” Snyder said, of dealing with yet another
injury. “It’s really a process of the day. We’ve really become numb to it. It’s
almost like the weather.”
* * *
No. 3: Fizdale ready for epic Game 5 vs. Spurs — The Memphis Grizzlies and San
Antonio Spurs have the always-pivotal Game 5 of their series staring each of
them down tonight (9 ET, NBA TV). If the last two games of the series are any
indication — and, in particular, the epic finish of Game 4 — then there’s no
reason to make plans to do anything else tonight. At least that is the mentality
of Grizzlies coach David Fizdale, writes Ronald Tillery of The Commercial
Appeal:
Grizzlies coach David Fizdale believes the feeling-out process is done in their
first-round series with the San Antonio Spurs.
The teams spent the first three meetings earning lopsided victories until Game
4’s overtime thriller.
The expectation for Game 5?
“I expect another epic game,” Fizdale said about a pivotal Game 5 against the
Spurs Tuesday night with the series tied 2-2. “That last game was an epic game.
You’ve got two hard-playing teams, two well-prepared teams. They’ve got that
championship pedigree so that tells me right there that there will be no letdown
from them. They’re fuming right now, ready to get back and play. We’ve got to be
ready to go in there and earn it.”
…
“It’s just a matter of who out-executes who at this point,” Fizdale said. “Who
does what they do better. Hopefully, our guys will be up for that challenge. I
told our guys ‘Let’s go in there and win.’ We’ve got the ingredients to do it.
But talking about it and doing it are different things.”
The Grizzlies turned the tables on the Spurs in Games 3 and 4 by becoming the
aggressors on defense. Memphis’ ball-pressure proved disruptive and turned San
Antonio into a one-man show with Leonard’s usage rate increasing by the minute.
“We just need continuous effort, multiple efforts because all of (the Spurs)
seem to be great shooters,” Grizzlies center Marc Gasol said. “We’ve got to try
to make it a little bit more physical. That’s where we excel.”
…
“It starts on the defensive end,” Conley said. “Early in the first two games, we
weren’t aggressive enough defensively. We weren’t imposing our will. Last game,
when we got down 10 (in the first quarter), we got back to getting stops and
getting out in transition. JaMychal (Green) getting a lob there was a big part
of the game. And that comes off defense. The offensive stuff will follow suit.”
Memphis’ offensive rating in its two wins (111.8 points per 100 possessions) was
equal to what the run-and-gun, three-point shooting Houston Rockets posted
during the regular season.
Both teams identified strong defense as the X-factor in Game 5.
Conley pummeled the Spurs in pick-and-roll situations. The Spurs will welcome
back starting center Dewayne Dedmon returning from his Game 4 absence as their
best pick-and-roll defender.
“At the end of the day, you’ve got to be prepared for everything,” Fizdale said.
* * *
No. 4: Lillard calls Blazers’ season one of ‘growth’ — Portland’s surge in the
post-All-Star break portion of the season was the stuff of dreams. The Trail
Blazers will always have that second-half run of the 2016-17 season to reflect
on and enjoy. After being swept from the playoffs last night by the Golden State
Warriors, though, that’s of little solace to Blazers star Damian Lillard.
ESPN.com Chris Haynes has more:
After the Portland Trail Blazers were swept by the Golden State Warriors on
Monday, point guard Damian Lillard told ESPN he’s developed a newfound obsession
with trying to take down the Warriors.
“You have to be obsessed with that because you know that they’re so good that
they’re going to be there,” Lillard said after a 128-103 loss in Game 4. “That’s
who you’re going to have to get through to get to where you want to get to.
That’s what it is.”
…
The two-time All-Star is proud of the team’s push down the stretch of the
regular season, but he’s not satisfied.
“I wouldn’t say it was a successful year,” Lillard told ESPN. “We got tested and
I think we answered the bell. I felt like we showed our true colors by the way
we fought. But I wouldn’t say successful. I think it was growth. A year of
growth for us.”
In last year’s playoffs, the Warriors bounced the Trail Blazers out of the
second round in five games. Lillard’s anger was evident after Monday’s lopsided
loss. “I don’t even know what to think right now,” he said. “It’s very
frustrating. But you know me, I’m going to come back stronger than ever.”
When addressing the press, Lillard spoke highly about how well the Warriors play
together and how everyone is on the same page. He has reached the realization
that the Trail Blazers must take a page out of the Warriors’ book.
…
“You also got to understand that if you ever want to get out the West, you’re
going to have to go through them,” Lillard said during his media address. “And
for me, I understand that’s what it is. It’s always been that way in the NBA. I
think about when the Pistons were just beating up on [Michael] Jordan. [They]
were just kicking his butt every year, and he had to get through them if he
wanted to get to where he wanted to get to. That’s just what it is. [The
Warriors are] going to be there. They’re going to be there every year. We have
to look at that and understand that we got to be better. We have to go get
better, and come back better as a group if we want to move past them.”
Kevin Durant loves Lillard’s competitive spirit. He told ESPN that the Trail
Blazers are a few pieces away from contending.
“I think they want somebody on the wing that can take the pressure off those two
guards (C.J. McCollum and Lillard), somebody that’s big for their position. But
they’re right there, man. They’re a good team. They started off slow. I think
they should have been a higher seed, but they fought their way to get in the
playoffs. They have a future center in [Jusuf] Nurkic who took them over the
top, but I think they need another ball handler on the wing to get them going.
It’s going to be fun playing against these guys in the next few years.”
* * *
SOME RANDOM HEADLINES: Austin Rivers is going to play tonight for the LA
Clippers after being out since March 30 (hamstring) … Isaiah Cannan will start
at point guard for Game 5 of Bulls-Celtics on Wednesday … Indiana Pacers
president Larry Bird delivered the franchise’s 2021 All-Star bid to the NBA in
an Indy Car yesterday …
