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April 24, 2017 ,
Harden, Rockets seize control of series vs. Thunder using new formula
Houston Rockets guard James Harden (13) shoots the ball over Oklahoma City Thunder forward Andre Roberson (21) during the second quarter in game four of the first round of the 2017 NBA Playoffs at Chesapeake Energy Arena.
OKLAHOMA CITY – The team that prides itself on never taking midrange jumpers is one step closer to the second round of the NBA playoffs because of one.

The team that some might suspect was born out of an Ivy League math class is up 3-1 on the Oklahoma City Thunder because it showed the kind of toughness that can’t be measured on a calculator.

If the Houston Rockets keep this up, they might take this fascinating formula all the way to the Finals. The league’s most interesting team, this bunch that is headed by the resident analytics leader (general manager Daryl Morey), the creative coach who’s in the midst of a renaissance (Mike D’Antoni) and the star who makes it all go (James Harden), won 113-109 in Game 4 on Sunday at Chesapeake Energy Arena. And the Rockets did it in the kind of counter intuitive fashion that served as a reminder of how good they can be.

This effort could not only end the Thunder’s season on Tuesday, but it might give the heavyweights like Golden State and San Antonio a serious push down the line. This is the kind of nuanced development that could convince the masses that the Rockets are for real.

And it wouldn’t have happened if Harden didn’t break protocol at the perfect time.

With 41.8 seconds left and the Thunder trying for the series split heading into Game 5 on Tuesday, Harden buried a stepback jumper from the free throw line over Victor Oladipo that put Houston up five and was the antithesis of Rockets basketball. All season long, the Rockets had made their way to a 55-win campaign by shooting only three-pointers and layups. They played the percentages, breaking the NBA records for three-pointers taken and made while making it abundantly clear at every turn that no midrange shots were allowed.

They pushed this mathematical envelope in unprecedented form, building a roster that was well-equipped to game the system and put together the kind of winner that no one saw coming. And this time, Harden went against their grain to get the job done.

“You get the best shot available, you know?” Harden, who struggled to a 16-point, seven-turnover outing, told USA TODAY Sports about his final shot. “That’s what it was. That’s what was available, so I took it.

“I was just driving. The lane clogged up once again, and I just tried to create as much separation as I could, which is what I work on every single day. Take the shot and make it.”

The playoffs have a way of revealing a team’s character, either exposing all those weaknesses that can’t always be seen from October to mid-April or showing the basketball world a stronger side. The Rockets, due in large part to the man’s-man outing from 34-year-old big man Nene, did the latter.

When he wasn’t wrestling with Steven Adams down low, doing all he could to keep the Thunder center from bullying the flustered Harden at every turn, he was hitting all 12 of his shots for a 28-point, 10-rebound outing that helped the Rockets star off the hook. With the Rockets hitting just 11 of 35 three-pointers in all, Harden - who saw the Thunder's Russell Westbrook finish with 35 points (10 of 28 shooting), 14 rebounds and 14 assists - missed all seven of his shots from beyond the arc.

“This game is a lot of physicality,” Nene said. “Physicality is ability and ability is there. We try and stick with it. We understand that last game; we missed a lot of defensive-centered scenarios and this game we came and played physical, we made shots, and we stopped defenders. We exploited their weakness. That is why we won.”

Make no mistake, they worked the numbers too. They always work the numbers.

After nearly 44 minutes of top-tier hoops entertainment, with the Thunder leading 58-54 at halftime and 77-73 through three quarters, it became a game of gimmicks down the stretch. D’Antoni went to the hack-a-Shaq strategy at the 4:11 mark, ordering fouls on Roberson because, well, he shot 42.3% from the line this season. He missed six of eight attempts during the four-possession span, forcing Thunder coach Billy Donovan to limit late playing time for the fourth-year small forward who had been so effective against Harden all game long.

This formula, new wrinkle and all, is working wonders for these Rockets now.
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April 19, 2017 ,
'Pissed Off' Clippers Show No Mercy Against Undermanned Jazz in Game 2
LOS ANGELES — Fans hate injuries to star players in the playoffs, and there's a certain breed of player who hates them, too. The injuries just add up to more "what if" questions than any normal sports bar happy hour can handle:

What if Kevin Love had been available in the 2015 NBA Finals?

What if Kevin Garnett didn't injure his knee in 2009?

What if I didn't sprain my wrist in junior high school and also grew an entire foot before basketball tryouts?

So many questions, most of them unanswerable. The one thing we know: the Jazz need Rudy Gobert just as much as the Clippers need him off the court. Whether they get him back is the only question that matters in this 1-1 Western Conference playoffs series.

When asked by reporters if the absence of Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert had impacted his offensive production in the Clippers' 99-91 Game 2 win, DeAndre Jordan kept it brief. "We can't worry about one person, and I don't think my job changes if he's playing or if he's out."

That's the reasonable-athlete response to this sort of question. Who wants to give his opponent credit for anything? No one is going to say the logical thing, especially in front of eager journalists with tape recorders and a lot of time on their hands. An admission that a player's absence due to injury is a pivotal element in a playoff game is tantamount to sports treason.

Just once, I'd like to see a guy say, you know what, that dude scares the crap out of me and I'm glad he's injured. A bit of refreshing candor/unchecked bloodlust might be more entertaining for lowly spectators like us but not so great for the athlete trying to drive a metaphorical stake through the heart of their opposite number.

It should come as no surprise that Jordan no-sold the idea of Gobert's Game 1 injury mattering one way or another. In a way, it's like saying even if you get your guy back, we're still going to slap you around, though in a far more polite sort of sense. If you squint, DJ has a point. No matter who the starting center is, Jordan still has to put on his hard hat every morning, jump into the restricted area and start banging.

In the case of Game 2, his role was more necessary than ever, with the Clippers pinned down by a hungry, motivated Jazz team bolstered by some typical "Iso Joe" Johnson heroics.

After dropping that heartbreaker in Game 1, the Clippers were trapped in a situation which even Jordan noted was must-win. "We had to win tonight," he said during the postgame press conference. "We wanted to win the first game, but we didn't."

As Blake Griffin described it, the Clippers spent the two days between games being "really pissed off," and it showed in how they bullied the Jazz's undermanned frontcourt.
L.A. scored 60 points in the paint, compared to the Jazz's paltry 38. That's 20 more points than the Clippers scored down low in Game 1, and it proved to be decisive in this contest.

One need only look at the way Los Angeles danced past the Jazz like they were Drake in the "Hotline Bling" video (sans turtleneck) to know that something was off and someone was missing. They struggled to find matchups to contain Jordan early, who found himself in a clear mismatch midway through the first quarter, with George Hill guarding him close to the basket. After a bit of forceful begging, Chris Paul gave Jordan the entry pass he so badly desired.

From there, it was simple physics. The big, fast guy dunked on the smaller guy. You've seen it a thousand times, and you will see it a thousand times more if Gobert is shut down for this series. The Clippers would continue to pound the ball all night long.

They found cutters and threw up trademarked lobs with impunity. Jordan ended the game with 18 points and 15 rebounds, and it's hard to agree with him that it was business as usual against Derrick Favors and Jeff Withey instead of a Defensive Player of the Year candidate with a 7'9" wingspan.

Jordan's highest point total against the Jazz with Gobert in the lineup in 2017 is 12, which came in a 114-108 loss at Vivint SmartHome Arena on March 13. That's not just DJ's highest point total against Gobert in 2017; that's his highest point total against Gobert ever.

In that same game, he recorded seven total rebounds. Their next meeting, at Staples Center on March 25, saw Gobert record 26 points, 14 rebounds and two blocks in a losing effort. On the other side, Jordan scored seven, rebounded 15 and blocked one.

This is not to say Gobert is the panacea that will fix all of the Jazz's problems, but it will certainly go a long way toward fixing the biggest one. If Utah can't stop a team that lives and dies on pick-and-rolls and interior action, then it won't matter that the Jazz held the Clippers to a 30 percent night from beyond the three-point line and that sharpshooters J.J. Redick and Jamal Crawford combined to go 0-of-7 from three.

"Whether it was the pick-and-roll or penetration or Blake Griffin, we've just got to find other ways to protect the paint," Jazz head coach Quin Snyder told reporters. It's hard to see where that solution comes from without Gobert to hassle Jordan and close off passing lanes with his impossibly long arms. 
 
For Snyder, the answer might be untenable.

"We may have to shoot, have a hot shooting night," he said. The Jazz were 28th in points per game and 12th in adjusted offensive rating during the regular season. Their adjusted defensive rating put them third in the league. This is a team that doesn't win shootouts, unless the aforementioned hot shooting night happens, like it did in Game 1 for seven-time All-Star Joe Johnson.

Veteran teams such as the Clippers make adjustments. They find weaknesses and exploit them. Saying that the lack of Gobert doesn't change your job is semantics. Yes, it doesn't change the broad task: score points, rebound, stop the other team from scoring. But it does afford the smart team opportunities it wouldn't have had otherwise.

The Clippers are poised to take full advantage of a team desperately outmatched underneath the basket, and they better. It's the kind of unlucky injury break Clippers fans are used to dealing with. Injuries to CP3 and Griffin cost them in the 2016 postseason, but the ledger might balance out this year.
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April 17, 2017
A Boston Marathon official tried to hustle Kathrine Switzer, No. 261, off the course during the race in 1967. Boston Globe, via Getty Images
Fifty years ago, a runner officially entered as K.V. Switzer participated in the Boston Marathon. On Monday morning, she’s doing it again at age 70.

Kathrine Switzer’s marathon in 1967 became historic because she was the first woman to complete the all-male race as an official entrant — her registration as “K.V. Switzer” hid her gender. The race resonated far beyond a footnote in the record books when an official tried to force her from the course after a few miles.

“The marathon was a man’s race in those days; women were considered too fragile to run it,” she wrote in an essay for The New York Times 10 years ago. “But I had trained hard and was confident of my strength. Still, it took a body block from my boyfriend to knock the official off the course.” Switzer recovered to finish in 4 hours 20 minutes.

Women were finally officially allowed to enter the Boston Marathon in 1972.

Women’s marathoning has come a long way, joining the Olympics in 1984 and gaining popularity through runners like Grete Waitz and Tegla Loroupe. More than half of marathon runners in the United States are women.

“In 1967, few would have believed that marathon running would someday attract millions of women, become a glamour event in the Olympics and on the streets of major cities, help transform views of women’s physical ability and help redefine their economic roles in traditional cultures,” Switzer wrote.
 
Over the years, Switzer has competed in more than 30 marathons, winning New York in 1974 in 3:07:29, and has worked as a television commentator. She is the founder of 261 Fearless, a running club for women. The name comes from the number she wore in 1967.

Switzer lines up to compete in this year’s marathon on Monday morning in the same number. It will be retired after the race. Before her scheduled 11:15 start, she was given the honor of firing the gun for the women’s elite runners.
“I’m so excited about Monday. It’s going to be great,” she told NESN. She has said she hopes to run New York this year as well.

Of her legacy as a pioneer, she wrote in The Times: “We learned that women are not deficient in endurance and stamina, and that running requires no fancy facilities or equipment. Women’s marathoning has created a global legacy.”

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