A look back at Tennessee playing Oklahoma and Josh Heupel in 2014.
No. 7 Tennessee (3-0) will travel to No. 13 Oklahoma (3-0) to open SEC play Saturday.
Kickoff between the Vols and Sooners is slated for 7:30 p.m. EDT at Memorial Stadium in Norman, Oklahoma. ABC will televise the contest.
Each week, Vols Wire will look back at a previous game between Tennessee and its upcoming opponent. This installment will revisit the Tennessee’s, 34-10, loss to the Sooners on Sept. 13. 2014.
Tennessee trailed, 20-7, at halftime.
The Vols scored its only touchdown of the game after quarterback Justin Worley completed a 40-yard pass to Josh Smith with 9 minutes, 46 seconds remaining in the second quarter.
Aaron Medley kicked a 31-yard field goal for the Vols late in the third quarter.
Worley completed 21-of-44 passing attempts for 201 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions.
Jalen Hurd totaled 97 rushing yards on 14 attempts and Marquez North recorded six receptions for 67 yards.
Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel served us Oklahoma’s co-offensive coordinator, along with Jay Norvell, under head coach Bob Stoops.
Tennessee earns comeback victory over Bulldogs in 2015.
Tennessee first fielded a football team in 1891 and the Vols have played in memorable games throughout its history.
Each week, Vols Wire will recap a memorable game against its upcoming opponent.
Vols Wire revisits Tennessee’s, 38-31, win against Georgia at Neyland Stadium on Oct. 10, 2015.
Georgia led, 24-3, in the second quarter before quarterback Joshua Dobbs completed a 19-yard touchdown pass to Josh Smith with 1 minute, 4 seconds remaining until halftime. Dobbs also completed a two-yard touchdown pass to Alvin Kamara with 27 seconds left in the second quarter.
The Vols led, 31-24, with 3:07 remaining in the third quarter.
After Georgia tied the game in the fourth quarter, Dobbs scored a game-winning touchdown on a five-yard run with 5:48 remaining in the contest.
Dobbs completed 25-of-42 passing attempts for 312 yards, three touchdowns and one interception. He was also Tennessee’s leading rusher with 118 rushing yards and two touchdowns on 18 rushing attempts.
Josh Malone recorded five receptions for 60 yards, while Kamara totaled five receptions for 31 yards and two touchdowns.
Mikal Bridges tied NBA history on Sunday while extending his league-best ironman streak.
Brooklyn Nets guard Mikal Bridges pulled off a pretty incredible feat on Sunday.
After he checked in for four seconds during Brooklyn’s regular-season finale with the Philadelphia 76ers on Sunday, he both marked the longest active streak among NBA players with 392 games and marked his 83rd game this season.
After he was traded to the Nets from the Phoenix Suns in February, Bridges wound up being available for 83 games instead of 82, the typical length of an NBA season. That number would tie a record in the NBA previously set by Josh Smith.
“I’ve been in playoffs a couple of years, so I’ve been playing over 82-plus for some years now. I mean, I’m fine, I’m healthy, so I should be fine for tomorrow — or Sunday,” Bridges said on Friday. “That’s the way to go with it. I mean it’s dope, you know, it’s crazy. Obviously, just with the situation with the whole not missing a game and then, of course, I get an extra game. Just crazy and wild, but it’s pretty cool.”
Mikal Bridges checked in for 4 SECONDS today to keep his streak of 392 consecutive NBA games played alive
Smith will serve as the Bulldogs’ wide receivers coach.
“Thank you for giving me the opportunity,” Smith said. “It’s going to be a blast. Glad to be apart of the Bearden family!”
The 6-foot-1, 206-pound Smith played for Tennessee from 2013-17. He appeared in 32 games for the Vols, totaling 40 receptions, 457 receiving yards and three touchdowns.
Smith came to Tennessee from Christian Academy of Knoxville. He was an all-state wide receiver at Christian Academy of Knoxville as a junior and senior.
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“We’ve seen this movie before, In fact, I wrote the script,” said Josh Smith, who added the hashtags #ByeDoc and #The3-1Bum.
Five years ago, the Doc Rivers-led Los Angeles Clippers blew a 3-1 lead in the Western Conference semifinals. In those playoffs, it was James Harden and the Houston Rockets who clawed out of a deep hole to keep the Clippers from reaching the West Finals for the first time ever.
In 2020, lightning struck twice, as the Denver Nuggets overcame a 3-1 deficit to eliminate the Clippers and advance to the conference finals.
The Nuggets trailed by as many as 19 points in Game 6 before rallying to force the decisive Game 7. If that sounds familiar, it’s because that’s the exact deficit that the Rockets overcame in their Game 6 against the Clippers in 2015. According to ESPN research, that remains the largest blown lead since 1997 with a chance to clinch a conference finals berth.
The Clippers led by as many as 19 points. That is tied for the largest blown lead with a chance to clinch a Conference Finals appearance since 1997. They tied themselves from 2015 against the Rockets in Game 6.
No team has ever come back from 3-1 multiple times in a postseason
When the Rockets overcame their Game 6 deficit, the unlikely hero was 6-foot-9 forward Josh Smith. “J-Smoove,” as he’s also known, scored 14 points on 4-of-5 shooting (80.0%) during an incredible fourth quarter — which finished with the Rockets outscoring the Clippers, 40-15. Houston was +21 during Smith’s fourth-quarter minutes, and fans in the Clippers’ home arena at Staples Center were left in stunned silence.
Many faces on the Clippers have changed since then. On the court, the 2015 group was led by Chris Paul and Blake Griffin, while the 2020 version features Kawhi Leonard and Paul George. But one constant is head coach Doc Rivers, and Smith let him know about it on Instagram.
“We’ve seen this movie before,” Smith wrote on Wednesday, underneath an image of himself from his Game 6. “In fact, I wrote the script.”
Smith then included the hashtags “Bye Doc” and “The 3-1 Bum.”
One frequently forgotten subplot to the Smith-Clippers saga is that two months after that Game 6, he signed with Rivers and the Clippers as a free agent. But Smith’s role in Los Angeles didn’t materialize as planned, and months later, the Clippers traded him back to the Rockets.
Smith played only 14 minutes per game in 2015-16 with the Clippers, after averaging nearly 28 per game in the prior season. That experience may have left a bitter taste in Smith’s mouth when it comes to Rivers.
Now 34 years old, Smith hasn’t played in the NBA since the 2017-18 season. But he clearly still watches, and he jumped at the chance to revel in the Clippers’ shortcomings from Tuesday night’s Game 7.
The Titans continue to make moves at the outside linebacker position.
Outside linebacker and Vanderbilt product Josh Smith, who was the last Tennessee Titans player remaining on the Reserve/COVID-19 list, was activated and then waived on Saturday, the team announced.
Smith spent parts of the 2019 season on the Titans’ practice squad. Smith, rookie offensive tackle Isaiah Wilson and veteran defensive lineman Jack Crawford all spent time on the COVID-19 list recently.
Tennessee also took a look at a few more outside linebackers after holding workouts for Austin Larkin and Chris Peace, a pair of players who went undrafted in 2019.
Peace played for both the New York Giants (four games) and Los Angeles Chargers (one game) in 2019. He was in for a grand total of 21 snaps on special teams and three on defense.
Smith joined the Titans after going undrafted last year out of Vanderbilt, spent three weeks of the regular season and the entirety of the team’s postseason run on the practice squad.
Five years ago today, Josh Smith and Corey Brewer led Houston to one of the most stunning comeback victories in NBA playoff history.
Five years ago today, role players Josh Smith and Corey Brewer helped lead one of the most stunning comebacks in NBA playoff history. It all led to the Rockets staving off elimination in Game 6 versus the Los Angeles Clippers with a 119-107 road victory (box score) on May 14, 2015.
Houston trailed by 19 points late in the third quarter and by 12 points with less than eight minutes left in the fourth — all on the road in front of a hostile environment at Staples Center. James Harden scored a team-high 23 points but struggled from the field, shooting 5-of-20 (25%).
But with Harden on the bench, the Smith- and Brewer-led bench unit caught fire midway through the final period. In all, Houston outscored the Clippers that quarter by a shocking 40-15 margin, led by a combined 29 points from Brewer and Smith. At one point, Houston went on a 23-2 run, headlined by several dagger 3-pointers from the duo of streaky shooters.
Dwight Howard held down the middle with 20 points and 21 rebounds and significantly outplayed DeAndre Jordan (8 points, 9 rebounds).
The Clippers, who were led by 31 points and 11 assists from future Rockets guard Chris Paul, shot just 4-of-22 in the fourth quarter. Blake Griffin had 28 points for the game, but did not score in the final period.
For most of the game, it looked as if Paul’s squad would win a second-round series for the first time in his Hall of Fame career. He has since shed that monkey off his back — though ironically, he did so by leaving the Clippers for Harden and the Rockets before the 2017-18 season.
Harden played less than a minute in that fourth quarter, with Houston coach Kevin McHale understandably choosing to ride the hot hands. But “The Beard,” who was later named that season’s MVP by his fellow players, made up for his inefficient Game 6 by scoring a game-high 31 points in the ensuing Game 7 victory at Houston’s Toyota Center.
That completed the Rockets’ comeback from a 3-1 series deficit, and it sent Houston to the Western Conference Finals for the first time in 18 years. And none of it would have happened if not for Josh Smith and Corey Brewer, of all people, bringing back “Clutch City” in Game 6.
The Tennessee Titans have begun making some offseason moves, including signing a number of players to futures contracts.
The Tennessee Titans have begun making some offseason moves, including signing a number of players to futures contracts.
One of those additions was former Vanderbilt Commodores outside linebacker Josh Smith.
Smith is no stranger to the Titans, and spent time on the team’s practice squad during the 2019 season.
The @Titans have signed OLB Josh Smith to a futures contract today. The @VandyFootball product spent time on the #Titans practice squad during the 2019 season.
Smith joins a long list of players who inked futures contracts with Tennessee this week, including quarterback Logan Woodside, defensive end Amani Bledsoe, running back Dalyn Dawkins, linebacker Nigel Harris, tight end Parker Hesse, center Daniel Munyer, defensive back Kareem Orr, offensive lineman David Quessenberry, wide receiver Trevion Thompson and running back Shaun Wilson.
On his final season with the Commodores, the 6-foot-4, 240-pounder earned 12 starts at outside linebacker, setting single-season highs with 35 solo tackles, 61 total tackles, 3.5 sacks, eight tackles for loss, three passes defensed, three quarterback hurries and a forced fumble.
As the decade comes to a close, Rockets Wire looks back at the most impactful games for James Harden and the Houston Rockets in the 2010s.
Rockets Wire previously explored some of the most meaningful Houston Rockets transactions over the past decade. On Friday, we look back at the team’s actual basketball games over that same period of the 2010s.
Dating back to 2010, the Rockets have the fourth-most wins among the NBA’s 30 franchises. They’ve advanced to the Western Conference Finals twice in the past five years, which they hadn’t previously done since 1997.
Nonetheless, as the new decade nears, the Rockets are still in search of their first NBA championship since 1995.
For better or for worse, here’s a look back at some of the most pivotal games from the past decade as it pertains to that pursuit.
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Honorable mention
April 9, 2019: The Rockets (53-29) lost to the Thunder in Oklahoma City, 112-111, in the final game of the 2018-19 regular season. Houston led by four points with possession of the basketball and under 45 seconds left to play. The Thunder rallied on a 3-pointer and dunk from future Rockets guard Russell Westbrook, and a game-winning corner trey with under two seconds left from Paul George.
That loss dropped the Rockets from the No. 2 seed in the 2019 Western Conference playoffs to the No. 4 seed. In turn, that put Houston on course for a playoff matchup with the top-seeded and two-time defending champion Golden State Warriors in the second round, rather than the third.
As it turned out, Warriors star Kevin Durant missed the entire Western Conference Finals due to injury after playing in five of six second-round games versus Houston. While there are no guarantees that everything would have played out along a similar timetable had Golden State played a different opponent in the semifinals, the Rockets were left to wonder, what if?, after Durant’s near-total absence made the Warriors more vulnerable in the series against the Portland Trail Blazers and eventual NBA champion Toronto Raptors.
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April 28, 2015: After a pair of first-round losses in his first two seasons in Houston, James Harden made sure it didn’t happen again. The Rockets star guard, who won Players’ MVP after that season, scored a game-high 28 points in a Game 5 series clincher at home in the first round against in-state rival Dallas Mavericks. Harden connected on 4-of-8 3-pointers (50%), and he also led Houston with eight assists.
This was also the game that led to a postgame controversy about the use of an emoji horse and gun from the Rockets’ official Twitter account.
With honorable mentions complete, read on for our selections of the top five most pivotal Houston Rockets games of the 2010s.
