This one had déjà vu written all over it. Houston jumped out to an early double-digit lead in the first two quarters, and then they would get sloppy, careless, and relinquish their lead to the Clippers. Then, LA would open up a double-digit lead and not look back in winning not one, but two games on the road, and basically all but dashing the hopes of the Houston Rockets of further advancing to the Western Conference Finals. Only this time, the Rockets wrote a different ending to the story.

It seemed as though the Clippers would ride the high of winning Game 1 without their superstar Chris Paul, and with a monster first half from Blake Griffin (26 first half points), it sure looked like the Rockets would be leaving Houston with a problem (yeah I said it, haha) being down 0-2. However, with some ill-advised possessions by the Clippers during the pivotal 3rd and 4th quarters, and a big fourth quarter from James Harden, the Rockets were able to storm their way back from being down 13 points and even the series with a 115-109 win. “We let Game 1 slip away and we didn’t want that

feeling for Game 2,” Harden said. “It’s going to be a tough two games in a row, but we’ve got our mojo now.” Dwight Howard also had a great game with 24 points and 16 rebounds. The only troublesome stat was his inefficiency at the free throw line in shooting 8 for 21 on the night. But hey, everyone knows that is definitely not an area he is strong in.

This game was definitely a test of free throw shooting. The Rockets shot 64 free throws and hit 42 (65.6%) while the Clippers shot 25-32 (78.1%) from the line. Blake Griffin chimed in on the amount of free throws that were shot, “You’re not going to win many games when the other team shoots 64 free throws and makes more than we even attempted.” Almost a hundred free throws in a game? I can see why this game ended late even without the delay in play because of the clock malfunction.

Blake Griffin led Los Angeles with 34 points and 15 rebounds, but had just eight points after halftime as Houston keyed on him with All-Star point guard Chris Paul out with a hamstring injury. DeAndre Jordan finished the game with 16 points and 12 rebounds and was the only Clipper, with the exception of Lester Hudson (yeah I’m sure you’re scratching your head too) to have a positive plus minus at +3 (Hudson had a +9 plus minus). The Clippers head back to LA with home court advantage, but the status of superstar point guard Chris Paul and his strained hamstring is still uncertain for Game 3. Hopefully he comes back to have both teams at full strength and we can see how the dynamic of the game changes with his presence on the floor.

Game 3 is slated for Friday night, 10:30 PM ET on ESPN.