HOUSTON — Lester Hudson and Hedo Turkoglu playing important minutes in Game 2 of a Western Conference semifinal series was never the part of the grand plan for the Los Angeles Clippers. But it was their reality Wednesday night against the Houston Rockets.
Even more surprising? It was nearly enough — again. Despite a determined effort by the Clippers in the absence of Chris Paul for the second straight game, the Rockets escaped with a 115-109 victory at Toyota Center to even their best-of-seven series at a game apiece.
James Harden finished with 32 points to lead the Rockets in a foul-marred game, many of them intentional as a parade of poor free-throw shooters approached the line in the contest’s latter stages.