Rockets come back from 3-1 series deficit, beat Clippers in Game 7

For the ninth time in NBA history, a 3-1 deficit has been overcome in a playoff series.

The Houston Rockets won their third consecutive elimination game Sunday, beating the Los Angeles Clippers 113-100 to take the series in seven games.

After Game 4, the Rockets looked dead in the water. Down 3-1 with Chris Paul back for the Clippers and Houston's defense looking completely over-matched, most wrote them off entirely. The Rockets surprised with an emphatic Game 5 victory and then had an historic Game 6 comeback, swinging momentum back in their favor.

Game 7 nearly looked like the opposite of Houston's incredible Game 6, as the Clippers rallied in the fourth to put a scare into the Toyota Center crowd. A lead that was as large as 20 with 10:27 to play was cut to eight with 2:10 remaining. The Rockets bent but held firm, and a Trevor Ariza dagger three with 55 seconds left in the game killed whatever hopes remained.

The Rockets will now head to Oakland to tip off the Western Conference Finals on Tuesday against the Golden State Warriors. A nice historical note in their favor: They're now just the second franchise to overcome two 3-1 deficits, and the last time they did so, in 1995, they went on to win the championship.

The Clippers, meanwhile, are now left to examine a roster that has several superstars but, based on how tired they looked at the end of a tough month of high-intensity basketball, may not have the requisite depth for an NBA Finals run.

Turning Point

After playing an abjectly poor first half, the Clippers were likely ecstatic to enter halftime only down 10 points at 56-46. Their defense had been somewhat careless at times and their offense stagnant and careless. If they could only stave off exhaustion in their second consecutive Game 7, the opportunity was there to flip Game 6's script and make a second-half comeback on the road.

Things looked good early with an 11-4 run to start the third quarter, which forced Rockets head coach Kevin McHale to use an early timeout.

That timeout seemed to kill any Clippers momentum, and a defensive lapse immediately following the break gifted James Harden an easy and emphatic jam.

Things unraveled from there, with Harden getting hot, Pablo Prigioni frustrating with multiple in-bound steals and the Clippers slowly falling apart on both ends. When the fourth quarter opened with DeAndre Jordan blowing an easy two points by opting for a flashy dunk, the writing was on the wall.

Star Performer

Harden got an early start on his impending showdown with MVP Steph Curry, providing a preview of the offensive battle that could be to come.

The MVP runner-up scored 31 points on 7-of-20 shooting, living at the line with a 15-of-18 mark and adding seven rebounds, eight assists and three steals for good measure. He averaged 24.5 points, 5.6 rebounds and 8.1 assists in the series, totaling 73 free throw attempts over seven games.

The Warriors own the league's top defense and will surely be ready for his unique talents, able to throw multiple high-end wing defenders his way to slow down his singular ability to get into the teeth of a defense. This should be a lot of fun.

Highlight Reel

The first half saw Dwight Howard dunk just about everything, and the Clippers' oft spacey defense was on display in the Harden clip linked above.

Here's more evidence of that, with an exhausted Blake Griffin basically falling asleep on this first-quarter play:

Even when the Clippers were active on defense, the Rockets made it work, like on this Josh Smith put-back:

And not even the highest quality of defense can stop Harden when he's cooking:

Series at a Glance

Game 1: Clippers 117, Rockets 101 (Clippers lead 1-0)
Game 2: Rockets 115, Clippers 109 (Series tied 1-1)
Game 3: Clippers 124, Rockets 99 (Clippers lead 2-1)
Game 4: Clippers 128, Rockets 95 (Clippers lead 3-1)
Game 5: Rockets 124, Clippers 103 (Clippers lead 3-2)
Game 6: Rockets 119, Clippers 107 (Series tied 3-3)
Game 7: Rockets 113, Clippers 100 (Rockets win series 4-3)

Alternate Series at a Glance