The Los Angeles Clippers failed in their first shot at closing out the Houston Rockets, and the defensive effort was a complete departure from the dominance they showed in the previous two games.
Since Game 1, venue has been everything, and that could mean a historic next step for Los Angeles.
The series moves back to Staples Center on Thursday night, where the Clippers will try to share the franchise's first trip to the Western Conference finals with a home crowd.
The Clippers, who have tied a single-season franchise record with seven playoff wins, are on to opportunity No. 2 of a potential three to advance past the second round for the first time in their unremarkable 44-year history after Houston's 124-103 win in Game 5 on Tuesday.
"They outplayed us and played like they wanted it," forward Blake Griffin said. "... We need to learn from this game and improve upon it. We have a chance to take care of business and play how we need to play."
It followed a pair of Los Angeles victories at Staples that came by an average of 29.0 points and made closing out the series look like a formality. That might have changed with James Harden's latest effort.
The MVP runner-up played through illness and finished with 26 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists for his first playoff triple-double. The season series stands at 5-4 Clippers, and Harden has averaged 28.3 points in the victories while being held to 18.2 in the losses.
"They kind of embarrassed us twice in LA, so we knew could play a lot better and we did tonight," Harden said.
Harden had five turnovers, but that was nearly half of the team total. Houston had committed an average of 18.5 through Game 4, but had a playoff-low 11 as it inched back into the series. The Rockets also shot 54.1 percent after being held to 40.4 percent in the previous two.
"It was our defense. Sometimes it was bad offense that led to bad defense," point guard Chris Paul told the team's official website.
That logic probably checks out. J.J. Redick, Matt Barnes, Jamal Crawford and Austin Rivers were a combined 9 of 41 as the team shot a series-low 41.8 percent. Los Angeles has shot 52.5 percent in its last three home games.
Paul had 22 points and 10 assists while Griffin led with 30 points and 16 rebounds. Paul played a series-high 35 minutes after being limited in the previous two games by a hamstring injury that kept him out of the first two contests in Houston.
The injury concerns now extend to Barnes and Rivers. Barnes is dealing with shoulder and ankle ailments, while Rivers has a hip pointer after falling hard late in the game.
Whether the Rockets' rhythm had anything to do with a slight departure from the hack-attack strategy they used heavily in Game 4 or if that change was a function of having the lead remains to be seen. Houston still sent Clippers center DeAndre Jordan to the free-throw line in the second half, and he was 7 for 16 after making 14 of 34 foul shots in Sunday's Game 4.
Trailing, the Clippers turned it around some in Game 5 by sending Dwight Howard to the line, where he went 6 of 14. He finished with 20 points and 15 rebounds.
In playoff wins, Howard's averaged 19.0 points and 15.5 rebounds. In losses, he's at 14.0 and 9.3.
Houston coach Kevin McHale also went with a different starting lineup, inserting Josh Smith for Terrence Jones.
"I just wanted to shake things up a bit and ... see if we could get more ball movement," McHale said.
It might just have to do with environment. The Rockets are 5-1 in Houston this postseason and 1-3 on the road. They're 1-9 in their last 10 road games against the Clippers and haven't made it past the second round since advancing to the 1997 conference finals.
"Once they won Game 1 here, we're going to have to win a game there at some point," McHale said. "Might as well be the next one. It's our only chance we're going to have at it."
