After getting thrashed two games in a row in Los Angeles, the Houston Rockets bounced back gracefully to dismantle the Clippers at home in Game 5, 124-103.

In the playoffs, sometimes the most desperate team wins the game, and that was the case Tuesday night. The Rockets were desperate, plain and simple. They did not want their season to end, so they decided to come out of the gates with a better sense of urgency.

Right from the first period, you could tell they had a bounce in their step. Dwight Howard and James Harden, who registered subpar efforts in Game 4, were aggressive to start. Howard did pick up a foul 20 seconds into the game but was able to stay out of foul trouble the rest of the way.

While the Rockets were playing to save their season, the Clippers looked like a team satisfied with heading back to Los Angeles to try and finish off the series on their home court. For the most part, the Clippers seemed uninterested in the game, and their defensive effort and energy was disgusting, to say the least.

“They were the desperate team. We didn’t play very desperate tonight,” Doc Rivers said following the loss. “I was disappointed in how we played.”

James Harden recorded a triple-double to carry his team, scoring 26 points, corralling 11 rebounds, and dishing out 10 assists. He set the tone with his aggressiveness and put pressure on the defense, unlike the two previous games.

Trevor Ariza was a major component in this contest for Houston. He dropped in 22 points, eight rebounds, three assists, and three steals on 8 of 12 shooting from the field and 4 of 6 from three-point range.

Kevin McHale made a couple adjustments going into this game, the first being the insertion of Josh Smith into the starting lineup. Coach McHale felt that Terrence Jones was getting overpowered and outmatched by Blake Griffin, so he decided to go with a better defender in Smith.

With Smith in the lineup, Ariza was excused from guarding Griffin. Instead, he had the task of chasing J.J. Redick around to try and slow him down, which worked since Redick finished with just nine points on 3 of 12 shooting.

Coach McHale also elected to throw hard double teams on Griffin. Though, Griffin was still able to notch a big time double-double with 30 points and 16 rebounds.

Chris Paul quietly chipped in 22 points and 10 assists on 9 of 16 shooting. He also knocked down four three-pointers. But with the way the Clippers were playing defense, all their offensive efforts went to waste.

The Clippers allowed the Rockets to shoot 54.1 percent from the field and were outscored in the paint, 64-46. Throughout the series, the team that has won the rebounding battle has won the game. In this game, Houston completed dominated the Clippers on the boards, outrebounding them, 58-39.

Turnovers were kept to a minimum by both teams. The Rockets only had 11 miscues, while Los Angeles had just seven. However, Houston had 17 fast break points compared to only three for the Clips.

Howard, after being fouled out and ejected from Game 4, came out with a better mindset and delivered with 20 points and 15 rebounds. He put DeAndre Jordan in foul trouble, which critically hurt the Clippers. Jordan was only on the floor for 24 minutes but recorded a double-double, 13 points and 11 rebounds. He had the best plus-minus rating, as he was the only one who wasn’t a minus on the court for L.A.

Jordan is valuable on the defensive end, and with him in foul trouble, the Clippers had minimal rim protection and lacked sufficient rebounding, which clearly showed in the box score.

The Clippers have another chance to close out the Rockets in Game 6 at the STAPLES Center in Los Angeles on Thursday at 10:30 pm EST.