Houston Rockets Stay Alive With Big Win in Game 5

The Houston Rockets are going to have to make history if they are going to advance to the next round of the playoffs (no team has come back from a 0-3 deficit), but to do that they had to take Game Five of the best of seven series with the Oklahoma City Thunder first.

And take it they did.



With big performances coming from everyone, but Jeremy Lin (who didn't play) the Rockets beat the Thunder 107-100 and make the series 3-2 in favor of Oklahoma City.

James Harden, flu-like symptoms and all led the way for the Rockets with 31 points and was nearly unstoppable from behind the arc going 7-9 from three-point range. He was not alone in the offensive onslaught though. Each starter scored in double digits with center Omer Asik recorded the lone double-double for the game with 21 points and 11 rebounds.

Houston knew going in that it needed to do a better job on defense and  it seemed to work. Kevin Durant led the way with 36 points, but it wasn't till the second half that the rest of the team managed to combine for more made shots than he had alone.

The Thunder almost appeared to throw in the towel with more than five minutes left when they appeared to start hacking Houston center Omer Asik, a notoriously poor free throw shooter. What is more telling about the philosophy is not that they did it, but the deficit was only 8 points at the time--something that would normally not be perceived as a problem for the Thunder.

Houston's defense must have been working.

Now it and the Rockets offense will have to stare the end in the face yet again when Game 6 tips off on Friday at 9:30 PM ET back in Houston.