Rockets go from up 71-60 to 107-94 loss to the Clippers

Posted: November 9, 2013 -- 11:46 pm CST.

HOUSTON, TX (Toyota Center) -- The Houston Rockets played good basketball for about a half Saturday night; however, that good half was not enough to earn a victory as the Rockets lost to the Los Angeles Clippers 107-94 in front of another announced sellout crowd of 18,108 fans.

"It was a second half collapse," said James Harden. "The first half we did a good job, especially on the defensive end. In the second half it was just the opposite."

The Rockets struggled in the first 90 seconds of the game and trailed the Clippers 7-0 before Howard jammed home a dunk. The deficit grew to 18-8 before Jeremy Lin checked for Omer Asik and Omri Casspi subbed for Patrick Beverley.

The substitutions sparked the offense. Plus, Howard was dominant in the first quarter with dunks and blocked shots; and, the Rockets used an 18-4 run to lead 26-22 after one quarter. Howard scored 10 points and blocked two shots in nine first quarter minutes.

Howard scored six more points in the second quarter and Chandler Parsons added eight points as the Rockets outscored the Clippers 29-24 in the second twelve minutes to lead 55-46 at the half.

In addition to the nine point lead, the Rockets had forced Chris Paul, Blake Griffin, and J.J. Redick to each pick up three first half fouls. Redick's 16 points helped keep the Clippers close in the first half.

The Rockets (4-3) led the Clippers 71-60 with 5:01 left in the third quarter. The Rockets didn't score a single point the rest of the Clippers.

The Clippers (4-3) didn't have an offensive explosion in the five minutes; but, they made four baskets and 4 of 7 foul shots to outscore the Rockets 13-0 and lead 73-71 after three quarters.

The Clippers extended their slow run to 18-0 before Dwight Howard ended the Rockets' drought at the 10:12 mark of the fourth quarter trimming the Rockets' deficit to 78-73.

The Rockets didn't get closer than five points the rest of the game as Jamal Crawford scored 11 fourth quarter points -- including some back-breaking three point shots.

Chandler Parsons scored a team-high 23 points (9 for 15 field goals) for the Rockets. Parsons added eight boards and three assists. Howard scored 21 points (8 for 14, 5 for 11 free throws) and grabbed eight rebounds. Patrick Beverley scored 19 points (6 for 13, 3 for 8 on threes); pulled down five rebounds; dished three assists; swiped four steals and blocked two shots.

James Harden struggled in the game and scored just 12 points on 4 for 15 field goal shooting. Harden said his bothersome foot did stiffen on him late in the game; but, Harden maintained his foot is no excuse for the loss.

"It was hard. It was hard to move out there," said Harden. "I couldn't really be aggressive like I wanted to. I was just trying to make plays for my teammates, especially in the game. It kind of got stiff later in the game but that's not an excuse for us to lose."

The Rockets made 13 of 36 field goals in the second half.

"We could not knock down shots," Harden said. They (Clippers) got a lot of easy points because of our inability to not knock down shots."

Blake Griffin and J.J. Redick each scored 22 points to lead the Clippers. Chris Paul scored 14 and dished out a game-high 13 assists.

Kevin McHale didn't like to see his players hanging their heads in disappointment after a few things didn't go their way.

"I thought for awhile we were playing good solid defense and then we went through a stretch at the end of the third where we had too many turnovers that led to their (Clippers) baskets," McHale said. "They made a couple of tough shots. They were making tough shots and we were missing good shots. I didn't like our reaction to that. It seemed like everybody just started getting down. We're going to go through those periods. You just have to become more resilient as a team and have more belief and we'll get things done."

Despite three losses in four games this week, Beverley believes the Rockets will be fine as they continue developing team chemistry.

"The biggest thing with us is we are a young team. It's not an excuse," Beverley said. "We just need to learn how to keep fighting. That's the biggest thing with us. Not offense, not defense. Just to be able to fight and grind games out. Luckily, it is happening early than later so we'll be straight."

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