Russell Westbrook: Clippers played ‘harder and tougher’ than Rockets

The Rockets had an awful shooting night on 3-pointers and were never competitive in a lopsided home loss to the rival Clippers.

Reigning NBA Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard scored 25 points on 8-of-15 shooting (53.3%), leading the visiting Los Angeles Clippers to a commanding 120-105 win (box score) Thursday night in Houston.

The Clippers were an incredible +33 in Leonard’s 28 minutes.

Russell Westbrook led the Rockets with 29 points and 15 rebounds, but the story for the team was a woeful 7-of-42 showing on 3-pointers (16.7%). Of those seven makes, four came in the final six minutes, after the game had long been decided. Backcourt co-star James Harden had just 16 points on 4-of-17 shooting (23.5%), including 0-of-8 on treys.

The Clippers only trailed briefly in the opening moments. They led by 23 at halftime and by more than 20 points for most of the second half. It’s the second straight loss for the small-ball Rockets, and the third straight game in which they trailed by at least 17 early in the second quarter.

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Houston scored just 44 points on 2-of-22 shooting (9.1%) from 3-point range in the first half, while they allowed 67 to Leonard and the Clippers.

Reserve guard Eric Gordon left early with a sore right knee, which forced him to miss a game last week. His status for Houston’s next outing on Saturday afternoon in Charlotte is unknown.

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The Rockets and Clippers have now split their season series at two games each, with each team having won once on the other’s home floor.

Houston (39-22) should be well positioned to win a potential tiebreaker, since the Rockets have a three-game lead in the loss column on Dallas (38-25) in the Southwest Division, whereas the Clippers (43-19) trail the Lakers (47-13) by six games in the loss column in the Pacific.

If the Rockets win their division and the Clippers do not, Houston would have the tiebreaker, since that comes next after head-to-head record. However, tying the Clippers could be a tall order, given that they now lead the Rockets by three games in the loss column with less than 20 games left to play in the 2019-20 regular season.

While the Mavericks could potentially catch Houston in the Southwest, it’s hard to see that as relevant to any potential Clippers-Rockets tiebreaker, given the six-game gap between the Mavs and Clippers in the loss column. In other words, if Houston falls off enough to be caught by Dallas, it’s hard to imagine how the Clippers could be at least three games worse.

The Rockets will look to snap their two-game skid when they visit the Hornets on Saturday afternoon, with tipoff scheduled for 4 p.m. Central time. It’s the first half of a back-to-back sequence, with another game scheduled Sunday in Houston against the Orlando Magic.

Westbrook has sat out half of all back-to-backs this season for planned maintenance, but it’s unclear which game this weekend that he will sit.

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