HOUSTON -- Vernon Maxwell, playing with a broken bone in his wrist that kept him out of the first three games of the playoffs, made a three-point shot with 56.6 seconds remaining in the game Saturday and Kenny Smith added a layup to send Houston into the second round of the NBA postseason with an 84-80 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers in decisive Game 5 of their series.
Hakeem Olajuwon produced 31 points, 21 rebounds and seven blocked shots to lead Houston into the best-of-seven Western Conference semifinals against the winner of Game 5 of the first-round series between Utah and Seattle.
Olajuwon, one of the leading candidates for the NBA Most Valuable Player Award, averaged 29.2 points and 15.2 rebounds in the playoff series. Olajuwon scored 13 of his points in the third quarter when Houston outscored the Clippers 28-12 to take a 67-56 lead. The Rockets closed the quarter with a 22-4 run. Houston increased the lead to 72-56 early in the fourth quarter but the Clippers staged a furious rally and reduced the deficit to 79-78 with 1:40 remaining.
After Olajuwon missed a jumper, Ron Harper hit a driving layup to give the Clippers an 80-79 lead with 1:15 left. Maxwell -- whose injury had forced him to miss the last four regular season games and Houston's first three playoff games -- hit a three-point jumper to give the Rockets a two-point lead. Maxwell had hit only 3 of his previous 14 shots.
After the Clipeers' Mark Jackson missed a jumper in the lane, Smith broke ahead of the field and converted a layup to complete the scoring. Smith finished with 19 points and Otis Thorpe grabbed a career playoff- high 17 rebounds.
Danny Manning of Los Angeles missed two three-point jumpers and Jackson misfired on a three-point shot in the final seconds. Manning led the Clippers with 24 points and 12 rebounds. Harper had 19 points for Los Angeles.
