Houston Rockets led by as many as 20 points but had to lean on a late-game triple by Trevor Ariza to hack a 113-110 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers and advance to the Western Conference finals for the first time since 1997.
The Rockets led from start to finish in the momentous Game 7 clash that in the end sent the crowd of 18,463 at the Toyota Center on their feet in wild celebration.
Stoic for most of the conference, Ariza pumped his right arm after the Rockets weathered a late rally by the Clippers who closed to within eight points in the dying minutes of the fourth quarter.
The Rockets will head to Oakland for Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals against the Golden State Warriors.
With the defeat, the Clippers became only the ninth team to drop a 3-1 lead to lose a best-of-seven series.
Doc Rivers suffered the ignominy of becoming the first coach in NBA history to have two teams fails to close out an opponent despite a 3-1 series edge. -end-
image by bleacherport.com
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