Houston Rockets: Three Keys To Winning Game 3

The Houston Rockets have been in this situation before – numerous times in their history actually. Down two games in a playoff series to a team no one thinks they can beat? Hmm…sounds familiar.

But don’t bury this team just yet. This is where we find out what they’re made of. This is where MVP runner-up James Harden atones for his turnover at the end of Thursday night’s 99-98 Game 2 loss. This is where Corey Brewer and Trevor Ariza find their 3-point strokes again and where Dwight Howard – well this is where Howard just continues to be his dominant self.

Cries of “Choke City” rang out once again at the end of Game 2 – and rightfully so. No one on the Rockets’ staff thought to use the team’s final timeout before Harden and Howard’s give-and-go attempt failed miserably when Harden was double teamed by Golden State’s Klay Thompson and Stephen Curry.

The botched final possession negated a furious comeback by Houston in the final two minutes that saw the Rockets nearly erase a nine-point deficit. Sloppy play from Golden State kept Houston in it till the end, but don’t expect the Warriors to be that careless with the ball again. It will take near-perfect play for the Rockets to win this series going forward.

With that in mind, here are three keys for the Rockets for tonight:

1.) GET HARDEN GOING EARLY: Harden finally brought his ‘A’ game on Thursday. He nearly recorded a triple-double, finishing with 38 points, 10 rebounds and 9 assists. Everyone knows the Rockets’ offense runs through him, but when Houston’s offense has struggled, it has done so because Harden has been too passive.

Too many times Josh Smith and Pablo Prigioni have dribbled the ball too much, leading to turnovers and tough shots. Harden needs to drive the ball to create open shots for the Rockets’ sharpshooters on the perimeter. When defenders begin to play tighter on guys like Ariza, Brewer and Jason Terry start to hit shots, the lane will open for The Beard to work his magic.

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2.) MAKE SOMEONE OTHER THAN CURRY BEAT YOU: The NBA MVP has been phenomenal in the playoffs. Curry needs just two 3-pointers to break the all-time record for 3s in a postseason set by Indiana’s Reggie Miller in 2000 (58). He is 11-for-22 from three-point range so far in the Western Conference Finals – which is just dumb – and scored 33 points in the Warriors’ Game 2 win. He is going to get his points, there is no denying that.

But if the Rockets expect to win this series, two bodies have to be put on Curry as much as possible. Sure, there will be open shooters. But I’ll take my chances with Draymond Green, Andre Iguodala or even Curry’s fellow splash brother Thompson shooting jumpers instead of the MVP. Houston needs Ariza to lock down Curry as best he can and for help defenders to be ready at all times. If one or more of those aforementioned guys drops 30 or 40 and you lose, so be it.

3.) KEEP THE BALL AWAY FROM JOSH SMITH: Dear J-Smoove, I love you man. I really do. But watching you handle the ball isolated in the half court and chucking up bad shots is leading to terrible things. Remember this? Yeah, if you could just let the adults handle the three-pointers and the majority of the offensive load that would be great. You were 6-for-16 from the field in Game 1 and 5-for-17 in Game 2.