May 14--So the Houston Rockets win Game 5 Tuesday night at home to keep their season alive and now Coach Kevin McHale is being asked Wednesday if the state of mind his team had in the victory will carry over to Game 6 Thursday night at Staples Center.
Keep in mind that the Rockets' season still is on the brink because they trail the Clippers three games to two in the best-of-seven second-round series.
"Loose. Tight. Focus. Not focus. I don't know. You just got to go and play," McHale said at news conference at the team's hotel in Beverly Hills on Wednesday afternoon. "I've never been one to believe in all that stuff, to be truthful.
"You go out there and you play basketball. There's a calmness that comes when we step on the floor, cause you've done it so much and you've just got to get into that state and go play."
Only eight teams have come back from a 3-1 deficit to win an NBA playoff series, the last being the Phoenix Suns against the Lakers in 2006.
The Rockets must win Game 6 to force a Game 7 at home Sunday.
"Again, we've got a game tomorrow night that we have to find a way to win," McHale said. "We've got to go out and we've got to win a road game. We've been a pretty good road team all year long. It's not going to be easy. They are going to make it hard. That's their job. Our job is to make it as hard as we can on them. We've just got to go out and do it."
McHale said that guard James Harden, who played Tuesday night with flu that required him getting an IV, was feeling better Wednesday and would play.
"He looked OK. He had a little bit of a cough," McHale said. "We just had a meeting and watched some film. We didn't do anything. He looked Ok."
broderick.turner@latimes.com
