NBA playoffs preview: Rockets, Clips meet after radically different paths - SI.com
Both are excellent, formidable teams that ranked among the West's best this season. Yet they meet under radically different circumstances—the Rockets having won their first-round series with relative ease, the Clippers victorious over the defending champs but at a clear cost. Fortunately for the Rockets, they have quite a team. James Harden leads an offense capable of explosive surges as Dwight Howard , now back in the lineup and moving well, champions a defense that finished sixth in points allowed per possession with him missing significant time. Hitting that equilibrium is trickier for the Rockets than other teams, though at the top of its game Houston can roll with the NBA's best. The Clippers are among them, albeit with a shallow, injury-riddled rotation that could make their run more precarious as the playoffs wear on. Another extended series of long nights for the starters could certainly take its toll. They're among the best when it comes to capitalizing on an opponent's mistakes—an engine that converts turnovers into transition offense and tardy defensive rotations into easy scores. Doing so when he has Howard, Terrence Jones , and Josh Smith lurking around the rim with shooters clearing out room can at times be more than even a smart, hard-working defense can handle. Source: www.si.com
