The Los Angeles Clippers and Houston Rockets are starting the NBA playoffs second round with Game 1 and Game 2 from the Toyota Center and the matchup is on TNT starting at 9:30 pm ET as LA comes in from playing game 7 against the Spurs and now Chris Paul, Blake Griffin, James Harden and Dwight Howard will battle in the postseason.
The Rockets won over the Mavericks in the first round to advance into the series against the Clippers, who took care of the Spurs in seven games. Chris Paul played injured and put in the winning shot at the end and now he comes in hobbled and banged up. The Rockets had a strong season and finished as the number two seed in the west and they will be the home team in this series with the Clippers.
The Rockets had James Harden finish second in the MVP voting this season and he now comes in after losing to Stephen Curry. Paul will be out for the first matchup with the Rockets after dealing with a hamstring and that is why he will be out. Paul could return for Game 2 after the thrilling game on Saturday and head coach Doc Rivers said that he came into the series expecting Paul to miss at least one game after injuring his hamstring.
Paul had a great performance for the Clippers in the series finale against the Spurs, scoring 27 points and putting in the game-winning shot as time ticked down at the end. The Clippers and Spurs played an intense series and both teams won road games during the first round. The Spurs are out after winning the championship last season and that means there will be a new champion this year. The Rockets and Clippers finished with the same record during the regular season, but Houston won their division.
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