The Houston Rockets have also lost their second home game of the season. It set an 89:100 defeat (BOXSCORE) against the Utah Jazz around an outstanding Donovan Mitchell. In the fourth quarter James Harden had to leave the match with an injury.
There was a duel between Donovan Mitchell and James Harden, the sophomore got the better start. Michael Carter-Williams started for Chris Paul, who was suspended for two games and Eric Gordon started instead of James Ennis (thigh).
The team from Utah started strongly, with an 11-0 run in the first quarter. Carmelo Anthony came for the Rockets after almost four minutes on the field and started with 4 of 6 successful throws immediately properly. Harden was able to turn his first two threes directly and the Rockets finished the quarter with a small 7-2 run. However, they had problems from the beginning to constantly sink the throws of Downtown. Only four out of 13 attempts found their way into the basket. The intermediate score was 29:24.
Although the Rockets were able to finish the first quarter well, they never found their rhythm in the second section, only one of eleven throws went through the cage. Eric Gordon contributed a lot to this, he couldn’t sink any of his seven triple attempts until halftime, while the Jazz scored a lot on the free-throw line. 11/18 FT may not be a very good quota from the line, but the Rockets found no other way to stop Utah and kept on beating Utah on the hands.
Meanwhile, Mitchell also convinced in the normal course of the game and already had 20 points (7/12 FG) at half time and was therefore mainly responsible that the Jazz went into the booth with a 52:44 lead. The Rockets, on the other hand, hit only a meager 22 percent out of the field in the second quarter.
There was no improvement for Houston. Paul was greatly missed, the movement in the field was too slow and obvious. Mitchell still couldn’t be stopped from scoring. Gordon tried it further out, but it just wasn’t his day. Meanwhile, Harden had to prove his leadership qualities and often courageously pulled to the basket, at least the Shooting Guard could convince with efficiency and kept his guys in the game.
Not to be neglected, however, was the fact that he already had 7 turnovers in the third quarter. All in all, the third leg was balanced (22:23 Utah), there were fewer free throws on the side of Jazz and meanwhile 28 points (11/19 FG) for Mitchell, Harden with 27 (9/18 FG). Melo was the third best scorer at the time (14 points).
Rudy Gobert (12) defended well on the board and made it difficult for the Rockets, who had been weakened by the replacement, the zone was declared a restricted area. Mitchell (38) then lost a bit of heat and Melo was still solid in the offensive game, but was hardly a help on the other side of the court. Instead Clint Capela (6 offensive rebounds, 10 points) found more and more into the game. Unfortunately there was no Shootout so far, both teams had problems to score.
Then Harden suddenly had to return to the locker room five minutes before the end, and the game was decided in principle. Apparently, he felt a pinch in his thigh. At that time the Shooting Guard already had 29 points, by far the most on the rocket side and was a ray of hope in terms of throwing quota (10/19 FG, 3/4 threes). Anthony made a threesome at the end, scored a total of 22 points and 7 rebounds.
Isaiah Hartenstein was allowed to play on the pitch for two and a half minutes at the end of the first quarter, where she was mainly occupied with placing Harden Blocks and allowing the scorer open throws. The Power Forward did not make a throwing attempt and only contributed a foul to the boxing score.
Houston Rockets vs. Utah Jazz 89:100 (BOXSCORE)
Just past a new career best performance (41 points). The 22-year-old Shooting Guard was by far the best scorer and scored 38 points with excellent efficiency (14/25 FG). So he could lead his team in decisive moments. Especially his attacks on the basket were to be emphasized, no Rocket could stop him permanently and with an outstanding Hang Time he avoided block attempts skillfully looked smooth.
This one had an almost historically poor performance. He tried twelve times to get the ball in from downtown, but only on the last throw did he succeed. Altogether he threw 5/21 and could contribute nothing positive to the game of the Rockets despite his role as a starter today. His plus/minus was also the worst of all players of both teams (-18).
Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni had hardly any possibilities to adapt his team to the circumstances. His actual Point Guard Chris Paul has been banned, James Ennis not yet operational. So he had to rely on Michael Carter-Williams, who had little to contribute to the offense, but at least turned one of four threes. In addition Eric Gordon moved into the Starting Five, but he hit absolutely nothing from outside, but didn’t stop taking the throws. Finally he let the same seven players rotate through.