Houston Rockets Focus On Avoiding Elimination In Game 5 vs Blazers

Apr 27, 2014; Portland, OR, USA; Houston Rockets center

(12) takes off his jersey after Portland Trail Blazers defeated the Rockets 123-120 in game four of the first round of the 2014 NBA Playoffs at the Moda Center. Mandatory Credit: Jaime Valdez-USA TODAY Sports

One more loss, and the Houston Rockets season will be viewed as disappointment, but it’s not to say that there won’t be a fight left. Only 8 teams in NBA history have come back from a 3-1 deficit to take the series, and the Rockets have that opportunity with 2 of the possible 3 games remaining at Toyota Center.

Game 4 was another heartbreaking loss in the series, but it’s a thing of the past, and the mistakes that occurred late in that game are over with. When Jeremy Lin was asked about his late game blunder, in which he had the ball stolen behind him by Mo Williams with the Rockets up 104-102 with 30 seconds left, he accepted full responsibility:

“Should have held on the ball and called time out, I had the ball underneath. I saw a lot of players. I figured they were going to come and trap me or put me in a tough situation underneath the hoop along the baseline. I just wanted to get out somewhere away. Whoever hit the ball away, I didn’t see it coming. That’s on me.”

http://youtu.be/vesPBAt7azo

Lin’s mishandle isn’t the reason the Rockets lost Game 4, as a double-digit 4th quarter lead was blown for the 2nd time in the series. James Harden and Chandler Parsons have had their struggles throughout, the defense has looked non-existent at times for the Rockets, and LaMarcus Aldridge has put the Portland Trail Blazers on his back for the whole series.

But the focus remains positive, as former Rocket Mario Elie, who was a part of the 1995 team that beat the Phoenix Suns that year after trailing 3-1, spoke to the team Tuesday about overcoming that deficit.

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Parsons believes that it’s time for the Rockets to show that they are the better team:

“We don’t want to come out and swing for the fences right away. We want to play our game and our style with the understanding that this is it. We don’t want to go home. We don’t want the season to be over. We think we are a better team than them. So we’ve got to go out there and prove it. We are positive. It’s not over in our eyes, and we have a chance to play a team on our home court, and it has been competitive all series long. Every game has been so close it could easily be the other way, and we just have to continue to grind. Our season is on the line.”

Game 5 is on Wednesday night at 8:30 PM CT and will be televised on TNT.