It might sound hokey — it might even be hokey — but NBA seasons are filled with moments that stand out a little more than others. Good teams play other good teams. Bad teams play other bad teams. They criss-cross and face opponents on the other side of the tracks. Everything matters to some degree, but not everything matters to the utmost extent. The best teams will still lose 15 to 20 times and throw in a clunker out of nowhere. The worst teams will win 15 to 25 times and pull off a surprise at some point.
An “NBA moment” is that one spot in a very long season which is worth circling in red ink. Thousands of games are played. Tens of thousands of timeouts are called. Hundreds of thousands of shots are taken. In that vast sea of basketball, not every instance — not every win or loss — can be clung to and receive considerable primacy. It’s just not possible. It’s not sustainable.
Yes, consistency emerges from all the little moments, but time spent observing sports attunes the human person to occasions one can identify as aberrational or representative. The moments one is inclined to circle in red ink are the moments which are much more likely to become representative of who and what a team becomes — during the latter stages of the regular season, when the push for the playoffs accelerates, and in the playoffs, for the 16 teams able to get that far.
Cataloging these moments is therefore one of the central — and fun — parts of chronicling an NBA season. The moment might not turn out to matter, or it might matter in a way one doesn’t expect, but the fun lies in taking note of the moment and seeing how teams respond to it (or not).
With that in mind, let’s turn to one of the first fascinating moments of the 2015-2016 campaign.
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You all remember what went down last May. The Houston Rockets, dead as a doornail late in the third quarter of Game 6 of the Western Conference semifinals against the Los Angeles Clippers, parked James Harden on the bench while facing a deficit of nearly 20 points. Game 6 was unfolding basically the way Games 3 and 4 had in Los Angeles, with the Clippers directing one-way traffic on a freeway unclogged by cars… or Houston defenders. Los Angeles didn’t just take a 3-2 series lead to its home building for Game 6; that 3-2 lead was attained rather easily, with relatively minimal resistance.
With Harden out and the Rockets drifting on defense, no one in his or her right mind would have guessed that the Rockets would make a comeback fueled by Josh Smith and Corey Brewer.
Yet, that’s exactly what they did. Over a quarter later, the Rockets had forced a Game 7, with barely any help from Harden. A few days later, they won Game 7 and kept the Clips out of the West Finals, in what is one of the NBA’s most oppressive and enduring droughts.
As the teams reunited in the new season, the Clippers were motoring along, having lost only once. The Rockets, injured and searching for answers, were 3-3. Los Angeles brought in Paul Pierce to be the kind of veteran presence who, in May (should these teams meet or should the Clippers face any formidable foe), would not allow a fourth-quarter lapse to occur. The Clippers also brought Josh Smith aboard — not for the express purpose of taking him from the Rockets, but to see if one big playoff run could lead to more sustained performance over 82 contests.
That James Harden scored 46 points for the Rockets in a narrow win over the Clippers isn’t the surprise here. Harden will eat plenty of times against accomplished opponents this season. What’s notable about the Harden explosion is simply that the Rockets were able to rally without it in Game 6. This has to make the Clippers that much more incredulous about the forces which toppled them several months ago.
Yes, it could mean absolutely nothing, but the Rockets’ ability to get healthy (at least, healthier) at the Clippers’ expense, back in Staples Center, raises at least one eyebrow. That the Rockets pulled this off at a point in time when the Clippers were displaying better form could certainly affirm the notion that Houston is living inside the Clips’ heads.
This is not the kind of baggage Doc Rivers needs his team to carry throughout the season.
Maybe this will motivate the Clippers. Maybe this will be the strip of hot coals which, once traversed safely, will make Los Angeles a tougher ballclub, one which won’t flinch next spring.
Yet, what if this loss is something the Clippers don’t heal from?
No verdicts are being offered here. Just consider the questions. That’s what a good “NBA moment” does, even in the first half of November.
