The Houston Rockets won their opening game against Utah Jazz without much effort. Game 1 of the Western Conference Semifinals went 110:96 (BOXSCORE) to the best team of the Regular Season.
Without the stricken Ricky Rubio, Utah travelled to Houston, Royce O’Neale moved into the Starting Five for him and Donovan Mitchell became the de facto point guard. The Rockets, on the other hand, were happy about the return of Luc Mbah a Moute, who was finally available again after a long break.
However, the first minutes clearly belonged to James Harden – after just ten minutes, the MVP favourite had already earned 12 points and led his team to an 11-point lead. But not only Harden was too much for Utah – when the bearded man paused, Chris Paul simply took control instead and led the offense just as efficiently. After the first quarter it was already 34:21 and CP3 did not let up afterwards either.
Utah barely got a leg on the ground and had no answer to the sensational shooting of the Rockets, even though Jae Crowder and Joe Ingles were also in a good mood immediately. Harden and Paul either danced and finished by themselves or found their teammates – the lead grew to 21, then 24, then 27 points. At the break it was 64:39 and Utah was not to be envied in the least.
After the break, things got a little better, at least because Mitchell was used more off the ball and found his way into the game. However, the Rockets still defended their lead quite effortlessly, before the Jazz at the end of the third quarter shortened to 15 points. Paul had the answer with a difficult threesome, but Utah also took this push into the next quarter. A Mitchell-Layup shortened about 10 minutes before the end to only 11 points behind, so close one had been before last in the first quarter.
Now Harden returned and quickly increased the lead to 15. As a result, Utah did not really come any closer to its comeback. There was one more excitement when Gordon accidentally stepped on Mitchell’s bent foot and the rookie had to step on the bench, but it wasn’t so bad and a little later Mitchell returned. However, he could no longer provide for a victory.
Especially Harden (41 points, 8 rebounds, 7 assists) was just too strong and had too much support in the person of Paul (17), Tucker (15) and Capela (16, 12 rebounds( also too much support. In the Jazz category, Mitchell and Crowder were the top scorers with 21 points each.
Game 2 of the series will also take place in the Toyota Center during the night on Thursday.
Houston Rockets vs. Utah Jazz 110:96, series 1-0 (BOXSCORE)
James Harden. Sure thing. Dominant idea of the beard, which was especially in the few moments fully on the spot, when Utah sniffed two times some morning air in half time. When Harden plays with such a self-image, every defender is simply helplessly at his mercy. Also strong: Paul and Tucker.
Derrick Favors. Maybe it’s not the Favors series that was important against OKC. Snyder can’t play against Houston for too many minutes with two bigs, because the Rockets can use that much too well with their shooting. In case of doubt Gobert will of course play more than Favors, especially if he is offensive (5 points, 2/5 FG) and not a factor on the board (2 rebounds), as in this game.
Word has got around that Gobert is relatively reluctant to defend to the triple line. The Rockets-Guards took advantage of this and involved the Frenchman again and again in pick’n’rolls, which brought him into almost impossible situations. He sanctioned, got shot, got close, Harden or Paul walked past him or just served the rolling Capela. The problem was of course already known before the series, but it was particularly striking, because Gobert had no great impact on the other side either. Here Snyder must come up with something to integrate the Frenchman even better, at least as a screener.