Friday's best: Harden too much for Mavs' addition by Rondo subtraction
Best game: Rockets 130, Mavericks 128
The Dallas Mavericks were set free by the removal of Rajon Rondo from the rotation. It’s not quite as clear what set the Houston Rockets ablaze.
Defense was optional right out of the gate Friday night, as the Rockets had their highest-scoring quarter of the season with 42 points, yet took just a six-point lead into the second quarter. Monta Ellis seemed particularly rejuvenated by the lack of Rondo, as he matched Dirk Nowitzki with 34 points for the Mavericks. It was a playoff career high for Ellis, whose night ended in disappointment. With 6.7 seconds remaining, Ellis had a chance to tie things and possibly force overtime, but an odd shot missed off the right of the rim, and the Rockets locked up a 3-0 series lead.
“It was an up-and-down game, shot-making and all over the place,” a frustrated Nowitzki said after the game. "This ranks up there with the toughest playoffs losses I've had in my long playoff career."
Dwight Howard tallied just 13 points, but he provided what little defense existed in this game and ripped down 26 rebounds. "Tonight wasn't my night to score. I was OK with that," Howard said, "but the one thing that I can always control is the paint and just try to get every rebound."
He didn’t quite get there, but a tidy 29.2 percent of all rebounds — not just those when he was on the court — did the job just fine.
Best stat line: James Harden, G, Rockets: 42 points, 5 rebounds, 9 assists
With the way that NBA substitution patterns work, the scoring for a star from quarter to quarter often looks like a backward N-curve: high in the first and third quarters, low in the second and fourth. Such was the nature of The Beard's scoring night, but that was the only thing ordinary about what Harden did. His high-scoring first and third quarters translated into 42 and 36 points for the Rockets, respectively, and helped Houston overcome two 36-point quarters from the Mavericks.
It wasn't a typical scoring night for Harden, either, in more ways than one. The 42 points are a playoff career high, for one. And he attempted just seven free throws; during the regular season, he had more free throw attempts than that in 49 games. The seventh free throw was a biggie, however. Harden used a pick from Howard to get into the lane and was just able to seal off Tyson Chandler with his shoulder for an and-one, Harden's 39th and 40th points of the night. And he followed it with a friendly bounce on an elbow jumper over Chandler with less than 15 seconds remaining for the win.
Best visual: Kawhi Leonard does the best impersonation of Vince Carter by a reigning Defensive Player of the Year in NBA history.
Is it not enough for Leonard to be the best defensive player in the NBA this season? Must he become an offensive juggernaut as well? When will the Spurs stop? Leonard finished with 32 points, the most of his career, regular season or playoffs, and the Clippers scored the fewest points in their postseason history as the Spurs won 100-73.
Best way to back up any trash you’ve ever talked: Paul Pierce hits a dagger to put the Wizards up 3-0.
Talk is cheap. The Truth is real. Washington kept pulling away from the Raptors in the fourth quarter, and Toronto kept hanging around — until Pierce finally buried the Raptors in the Wizards' 106-99 win.
That's why the Wizards brought Pierce to Washington, and he'll gladly tell you that's the truth.
Best evidence that Dirk Nowtzki isn't exactly in his prime: Trevor Ariza's dunk on Dirk.
It was something of a turn-back-the-clock night for Nowitzki on Friday, as he finished with 34 points and eight rebounds. But there was something really depressing about the way Ariza's eyes must have lit up when he realized he was being defended by a statue.
Nowitzki was never the greatest defender, but the Mavericks' 2011 title run was built largely on a system that counted on less-than-plus defenders being in the right place at the right time. On this dunk, Nowitzki just couldn't get to where he needed to be.
Best assist by a point guard who might actually be a real, magical wizard: John Wall's dime to Marcin Gortat.
Seriously, is there a way to add testing for superpowers into the next CBA? If we're going to have a work stoppage anyway, can we at least level the playing field for guys who can't do the things that Wall can?
Best addition by subtraction: Mavericks' offense without Rajon Rondo.
Game 3 showed just how big of a miss the Mavericks' acquisition of the mercurial point guard really was. Their 128 points were the most in regulation for the Mavericks during Rondo's brief stint with the team. Dallas had its highest-scoring first half in the playoffs since 2003, with 72. Rondo's absence was noticeable, to say the least. But it really isn't all his fault.
Jeff Van Gundy told a story at the Sloan Sports Analytics Conference a couple of years ago about the time as Rockets head coach that he was shown a pile of statistics on Houston's offense. He didn't recognize the categorization for the Rockets' most efficient play type: chaos. That is, when Houston got out and just played basketball, it was often at its most successful.
Van Gundy's tenure with the Rockets ended in 2007, before the modern spread pick-and-roll offense was really en vogue. But it's still a telling anecdote — it's hard to score against modern NBA defenses when they're set. There's too much film study. They know what's coming. But it can be hard for a genius point guard like Rondo to let go of the reins and embrace the chaos. That's why the Mavericks with Rondo at the helm so often walked the ball up when a fast-break opportunity was there for the taking. A fast break means chaos, and Rondo knows he's smart enough to out-think any team, even in the halfcourt.
But, even in the halfcourt, the days of a point guard pounding the ball and waiting to make plays as windows come open are long gone. The NBA is a league of constant ball movement, exemplified by teams like the Hawks and Spurs. Rondo is a dying breed of point guard, and the Mavericks paid the price for it this season.
Best home reception for a visiting team’s foreign ambassador: Wizards fans boo the heck out of Drake when he shows up in Washington.
You've got to give it to Drake — he's doing his best to show his support for the Toronto Raptors this postseason. His travel schedule prevented him from holding the news conference he'd scheduled before Game 2 in Toronto, but he made his way to the American capital for a crucial Game 3 to support the Raptors.
It wasn't enough, as the Wizards had a response for every late charge from the Raptors in the clutch. And Wizards fans let Drake know that there would be no such thing as diplomatic immunity for the team ambassador from the North. The booing you hear in the Vine below that seems so random? That's the Washington fans greeting Drake.
Best instance of a human being turning into fire: DeMar DeRozan scores 20 points in 10 minutes.
It’s not exactly easy to finish a game with 32 points if you score only 12 in the final three quarters. The math really makes things difficult. But DeRozan’s 20 points in the first set a Raptors franchise record for most points in a quarter. The big scoring outburst helped Toronto to a 35-point opening frame, but it wasn’t enough to get the win.
Best one-on-one matchup in Game 3 of Clippers vs. Spurs: Doc Rivers and Gregg Popovich with pregame quotes.
On the bright side for the Clippers, at least their coach might have seen Leonard’s dominant performance coming. Wait, that’s probably not much of a bright side. Never mind.
And it’s no surprise that the Spurs were so dominant when Pop is sharing wisdom like this:
Which coach won the pregame media sessions in the end? That depends on how you interpret this stat.
Best example of the Rockets disrespecting their elders: Howard's rude rejection of Richard Jefferson.
Harden wasn't the only one with a big night for the Rockets. Howard had a career playoff-high 26 rebounds, and he likely made Jefferson seriously consider retirement with this block: