Tonight at 8:00 p.m. ET the Houston Rockets, No. 2 seed in the Western Conference Playoffs, will try to shut the door on the Dallas Mavericks in Game 5 of their opening round series, which fans can watch on TNT or live stream free by clicking this link. Rockets fans can listen to the radio broadcast on Sports Talk 790, while Mavericks fans may do likewise on 103.3 ESPN.
When news broke that point guard Rajon Rondo would miss the rest of the series with an injured back it was assumed that the Mavericks would suffer, especially when coupled with the loss of Chandler Parsons. The veteran Mavs have been better offensively all year without Rondo though, and they pulled together to avoid an embarrassing sweep on their home floor. Now, the favored Rockets will try to finish off the Mavs at the Toyota Center and rest up for Round 2.
"We have to be better on both ends of the floor," James Harden said. "Credit to them, they did a great job of pressuring the ball, but overall we have to be better at doing what we're supposed to do."
Monta Ellis was the star of the show in Game 4, dropping 31 points, six rebounds and three assists on the Rockets who were helpless to stop him. He played like a man on fire, and Rockets coach Kevin McHale noticed a gap in effort levels.
"They played harder than us," McHale said. "They beat us on the boards bad. They pushed it down on us. Our coverages were really loose, and they just played harder than we did. That's the bottom line, they played with more desperation."
In Game 5, there will be more attention paid to Ellis, so the Mavericks may need a turn-back-the-clock effort from Dirk Nowitzki to stay afloat. So far he's had a good series, averaging 21 points and 9.3 boards.
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