Berth in playoffs clinched with win
NEW ORLEANS — Not a drop of champagne was spilled. There were no shouts in the postgame locker room, not even a nod of recognition for an accomplishment long assumed, but now official.
In many ways, the Rockets’ perfunctory 113-90 romp past the Pelicans on Sunday was appropriate for the occasion. As with the playoff spot it clinched, advancing the Rockets to the postseason for a franchise record-tying seventh consecutive season, there never was any doubt.
The blowout against what is left of the Pelicans, with a rotation wrecked by injuries and the limitation of lame-duck superstar Anthony Davis to 20 minutes, could not be celebrated. Neither
was the playoff spot that came with it.
“We never talked about it, not once,” guard James Harden said.
“We clinched the playoffs? I did not know that,” coach Mike D’Antoni said.
“I didn’t even know,” Eric Gordon said. “The main task is to win a championship. We know what we’re capable of. Our mindset is to win a championship.”
On the way to what they hope will be bigger and better things than brushing aside the Pelicans or qualifying for the playoffs, the Rockets did accomplish the goals for the day. They stayed sharp, sinking 21 of 49 3-pointers, never trailing and building a lead that reached 28. And they stayed healthy.
But there was a brief, dicey moment. With the Rockets at full strength (and giving Gerald Green and Nene the night off ), Gordon turned his right ankle on a drive in the game’s second minute and limped off the court.
When he returned, he quickly showed there might not have been reason for concern, sinking five 3-pointers in his next 10 minutes and adding another in the second half before calling it a night with 2½ minutes left in the third quarter.
“I knew it would be OK,” Gordon said. “It’s very sore right now. It’ll be even more sore tomorrow. But I knew it would be OK and I needed to go out there and see how it would go. The best thing when you turn your ankle a little bit is to keep it going. It got better.”
Once he and Harden, who also had five 3-pointers in the first half, began to roll, the Rockets’ greatest challenge was to not lose interest so the standard of play the Rockets have hoped to maintain down the stretch — and will be necessary in the upcoming games against the Bucks and Nuggets — did not slip.
“I thought we had good energy to start the game, good defensive energy,” D’Antoni said. “Then when Eric and James hit the 3s, that’s tough on anybody. Then the bench came in and gave good energy also.
That’s what you got to do; knock them out and get to the next one.”
That had been a problem this season, particularly in the loss in the previous meeting with the Pelicans when they were even more short-handed. But with wins in 14 of their past 16 games, the Rockets had seemed to conquer that.
“We’ve had previous games when teams weren’t as good,” said Harden, who had 28 points in 29 minutes, the fewest he has played since Dec. 6. “We kind of let up and let one slip. Tonight was a good job from top to bottom coming in and handling business.”
The Rockets sank more than 40 percent (42.9 percent) of their 3-pointers for the seventh time in 13 games after not reaching 40 percent shooting from deep in any of their previous 22 games. Chris Paul, who made one of his first nine shots, dropped in his final three attempts to lead with 10 points, 13 assists and five steals. Danuel House Jr. went from Friday’s 0-for-4 3-point shooting to 4-of-5 from deep.
“It’s something we talk about, regardless of the score, we have to play the right way,” Paul said. We always try to build and find little plays and things that might work. You never know when you might need that later in the season.” With so much about “later” the Rockets did reclaim their one-game lead on the Trail Blazers for third place in the Western Conference and added an asterisk next to their name.
“We should be in the playoffs,” Paul said. “For us, I guess it’s nice we did that. I guess.”